The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy, Book 2
by Gaara's Himitsu
Summary: SEQUEL to BOOK 1, The Uke-shu had been a tradition at Aishiteru Academy for years. But why was it invented if everyone knows it's impossible to fall in love in one week? With so much going on, how will Haku, Naruto and Gaara handle the attention?
1. Chapter 1

**The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy**

**-Book 2, Chapter 1-**

Pairings: GaaraXNeji, NarutoXSasuke, HakuXZabuza

_Note: Welcome back to book 2 of Aishiteru Academy!_

* * *

Naruto panted, bringing his arm up to his forehead to clear away the sweat that had been building there all morning. He worked for a small lawn mowing company that went around mowing lawns for big law firms, funeral homes, golf courses, and resorts. There was always plenty of work to get done in a city like this so Naruto was never in want of work hours. The only thing that bothered him was how often he'd been working lately. How often they'd all been working.

It'd been three weeks since the three of them had been made fun of by the popular kids during volunteer period. Three weeks and these guys still wouldn't let up.

Naruto hated to admit the fact that he might have been wrong in thinking this was going to end, but one of them had to have hope. He knew Gaara didn't and most likely hadn't been hopeful from the beginning. The boy spent all his time working at a rundown dry cleaning shop in one of the less lovely parts of the city. When the redhead wanted to avoid something, he did so with great effort. Naruto barely saw the other boy as he was putting in forty hours a week now even with school. It was obvious he didn't want to talk to anyone, or be around if he didn't have to be.

The lack of there-ness that Gaara was showing pretty much forced Naruto and Haku to work more too. It's not like any of them wanted to be left alone with nothing to do. For some reason, rich assholes like the ones at his school found it entertaining to pick on people for years and years and years. That was the only thing they ever seemed to stick with though, much to the blonde's annoyance.

The passed three weeks had been hell for them.

Neji Hyuuga had been trying non-stop to get Gaara to talk to him again. It would have been cute had the redhead actually given in once or twice, but Gaara adamantly blamed everything on the rich snob and ignored all his attempts. It made Naruto jealous that he wasn't getting the same attention. He often saw a certain Uchiha leaning on a wall in the background waiting for Neji to be finished with his harassing, but he never once said anything to Naruto.

This pissed him off because they had worked together cleaning the gardens at the orphanage during volunteer time for three weeks now. Twice a week for three weeks.

It's like he wasn't there at all.

Something he wished a few others also thought.

The day after the whole bus thing had gone down, everyone in the school knew who they were. Thank you stupid blonde and bubblegum chick. They were the nastiest, sort of. The posse of four consisted of Ino Yamanaka (Bitch), Sakura Haruno (Whore), Tenten (Ditz from hell that's too cool for a last name), and Neji's cousin. Hinata Hyuuga.

This one was supposedly the nice shy one.

Let everyone else be fooled, but the day she started stalking Naruto around school and following him to his house was the day he stopped believing in her masks.

She creeped him out like no other!

Whenever he was found walking by himself to one of his elected classes, she would be there to run into him. Every day, in the same spot, this woman walked around the corner, flicked her hair, batted her fucking eyelashes and proceeded to walk straight into Naruto, stepping on his feet with her platform shoes.

She waited there for him to pass her and Naruto knew it.

And each time she did this, she would proceed to apologize in her fake nice voice and drag him into unnecessary conversations. She would then cling to his arm and make him walk her to class. This was not fun for Naruto, he was getting to know the spider's entire schedule for the week. Where were her stupid friends when you needed them around to pull her away and tease her for touching an orphan? They always disappeared when Naruto didn't want them to. That must have been planned too.

Naruto's problems were far from the worst however. Haku, poor kid, had his own stalker too. A really perverted one that for some reason, liked very much to be alone in the room with Naruto whenever he could, which confused the blonde. Because the next minute the pervert would be hanging on Haku with his arm around the boy's shoulders. Often times Naruto would see the boy's hand sneak down to Haku's ass. This was usually when Naruto picked a fight with the kid and proceeded to slam him against the lockers in the hallways. Pervert that this kid was though, he would just wink at Naruto and slide his body against the blonde's. If only he could murder this kid or at least get him expelled. Naruto could still remember the first day this Sai kid had hit on Haku. What kind of ass had the nerve to come back after that?

Grimacing to himself, Naruto proceeded to start pushing his lawn mower over the grass again. It was still as short as it had been when he'd left it last time. These rich people and paying for things they didn't need. The poor grass never had the chance to grow because of them. Not that Naruto was going to complain aloud, it gave him extra money he could play with.

X

Zabuza really could have cared less about Haku being an orphan. It was actually something he approved of, not that he would have actually wished it on the boy, he just didn't see it as a bad thing. Haku was much more humble, accepting, and thankful for everything than anyone else Zabuza had ever met.

Even though all of that was well and good. There was still something more that the taller man particularly liked about the little brunette. Haku hadn't begun talking to him for money. This had always been one of the reasons Zabuza never dated. Even though he was an only child he refused to start finding love when all anyone wanted from him was his money. If it wasn't for him being rich, no girl would have ever talked to someone as foreboding and intimidating as he was. So when people started picking on Haku, the one boy he'd actually found that liked him, he'd gotten very angry.

The problem was, even though Zabuza cared a great deal for the younger boy, he hadn't been able to talk to him for the passed three weeks. The other students had been driving them apart. When Haku had brought him food the day after the incident from his cooking class, the boy had looked nervous that Zabuza might actually refuse it. Zabuza would have gladly taken it and walked the boy back to class had it not been for one of the other boys in the locker room. They'd had the nerve to reach out and push Haku into one of the lockers before Zabuza had been able to reach him. Whatever it was he'd made, had splattered all over the tile floor, the changing bench and the smaller boy's uniform.

He'd been so embarrassed and hurt by it that he'd run from the room flushed with angry tears in his eyes. That was the last time he'd brought Zabuza anything. What was worse, was Naruto, One of Haku's two best friends, was in his class and he'd been more than a little pissed off. He'd looked ready to hit Zabuza for letting that happen to the small, gentle brunette.

Zabuza had ignored him though and instead of letting the boy get angry with him, he'd moved on to beat the shit out of the boy that'd pushed Haku to begin with.

He'd punched the boy hard enough to send him half way across the locker room, tripping and falling backward over a bench with a broken nose, black eye, and split lip. Zabuza had gotten in a lot of trouble, but it'd been worth it. The other boy had gotten detention for picking on Haku, and Zabuza had had his parents called.

The good thing about all this, was Naruto had given him a nod of approval before he'd been taken to the principle.

That was important to Zabuza.

It meant he had permission to at least talk to Haku from one of the two people he needed the approval from. It was like receiving someone's blessing. Which, even though he lived in more modern times, was an important thing in his family. They were traditionalists.

His parents had been more shocked than anything else. When the principle had called them, they demanded that he come home and talk to them about it. They'd merely wanted to know why he'd assaulted another student.

It was the first time he'd ever mentioned Haku to his parents. The first time he'd ever mentioned anyone to them.

He was close to his parents and had told them the absolute truth of everything that had happened. How the boy he cared about had been hurt and picked on, how he'd punched the shit out of the boy for hurting him. He'd even gone so far as to explain that the boy had been bringing him food after gym class almost every day he'd had that class. He'd even told them about the volunteering incident and why people were even picking on the boy to begin with.

Zabuza had told them everything.

When he'd finished, they'd called the school and told them not to worry, that he'd been protecting another student and wouldn't cause problems again. Being one of the three most important families the school had, they'd let it slide and his parents had been proud of him.

By the end of the day however, both Sasuke's and Neji's families had also heard all about it.

Seeing as this was the first time Zabuza had ever shown interest in someone, his parents were very excited. Of course the tall boy could name at least one person who would not be excited about this. Zabuza wasn't exactly sure what Neji would think, seeing as he'd been acting love sick since he'd met Gaara, but he knew that Sasuke would not approve. The boy wasn't particularly fond of lower class people. He always made it very apparent in the tone he used with people whether he approved of them or not.

He was going to be one of the harder ones to convince. Unless of course, Zabuza could convince the boy he too was interested in one of the orphans. A certain blonde one to be more exact.

X

Gaara sat in their last class for the day. Homeroom with Iruka-sensei.

He'd been working so hard lately he barely made it through his class during the day. Today however, his boss had told him to stop working so much and let the other employees get some of the work hours. He'd given in reluctantly and now he only had maybe 30 hours total of work for the next three weeks. He'd have a lot of time to try and get over his problems at school.

It just wasn't something he wanted to face just yet.

"Okay everyone. Listen up!"

Gaara pulled himself out of his thoughts and glanced up at their teacher.

"Something important is happening in two weeks and I have to start getting all of you ready for that. It's going to be a busy time for the school so every one of you needs to know what's going on."

Gaara paid a little more attention and forced himself to straighten up in his chair to prevent him from falling asleep.

"In two weeks something called 'Uke-shu' will take place. How many of you know what that is?"

A few people raised their hands. None of them being he, Naruto or Haku, who were all rather confused as to what Iruka-sensei was talking about.

"For those of you who don't know, the Uke-shu has been a tradition at Aishiteru Academy since the school was founded years ago. One week of school is taken off and each student may do one of two things. Either one of the students from another class, usually from the Seme classes will ask you to live with them for the week, or if no one asks you, you get a week off of school to do as you wish."

Not many of the students looked like they liked this so called "Holiday." Gaara couldn't blame them, he didn't much like the idea of staying alone with some creepy Seme in their house for a week.

"Now I know that sounds rather bad, but keep listening. There are rules. The Seme will be getting proposals ready and in the next week, most of you will be receiving one if not several. The Uke-shu is designed to give the Ukes the power to do as they choose. This is a courting period where the Seme that like you try to get you to like them back. Let me go over the rules with you.

First. Absolutely no sex is allowed. Even if you've known the other person your whole life and love them to death. No sex.

Second. The Uke gets to do whatever they want for the week so long as it doesn't break the rules and the Seme must do as asked.

Third. You will not be alone in the house with them. During this week the Seme take you back to their family estate and you stay with all of them. So don't worry about any of that.

Fourth. This is a school holiday so you do get credit for participating. I'm not sure how they work that exactly because I'm not part of the holiday committee.

And Fifth. The parents of the people you are staying with will be informed of all the rules. So if any are broken they will be asked to inform the school and the students could be expelled. If it gets that bad.

Other things like drugs and drinking are prohibited as well. Remember. They are supposed to be winning your affections not trying to get you in bed."

Gaara had got the idea that people had actually gotten in some serious trouble for things like that. And he couldn't really blame the school for expelling people. He was actually glad they did that. The last thing he wanted was to end up raped and still have to see the asshole every day at school. That would be horrible.

"Oh yeah and one more thing. If any of you accept these invitations from the Seme's I should warn you that a few health tests will be done the day before you leave. Aishiteru Academy actually agrees that the sex thing is a very big deal. So even if you lie about it. You'll be tested the day before you leave and the day you get back as to make sure you haven't broken that rule. It's an invasion of privacy I know, but the school has permission to make sure nothing happens."

Gaara happily agreed with that too.

Iruka-sensei continued to tell them he'd pass out any invitations for them at the end of the each day for the next week.

Gaara vaguely wondered exactly what the Seme's were being told in class.

X

" If I so much as hear that one of you touched an Uke the wrong way I'll cut your balls off and feed them to you as punishment. You ladies, don't think because you don't have a dick that your off the hook. If I have to I'll cut the dick off one of these idiots and sew it onto you instead. Are we clear?"

Neji was pretty sure he didn't want to even invite anyone if Kakashi-sensei was this serious about it. The man made it sound like even a written invitation passed between the teachers was harassment. Not that he really blamed the man.

He was in a classroom of assholes.

He knew none of them would take this seriously unless threatened and Kakashi-sensei was someone you really didn't want mad at you.

"This is their week alright. I know most of you are old enough to know this and so I trust I won't have to kill any of you. Treat them like angels and give them whatever they want. Just pray that you picked one that won't drain all your expenses. There is no rule stating they can't ask you to buy them things until you become broke, so choose wisely."

Neji would have laughed, had the man not been so serious.

"And you Sai. If you so much as start writing one of your invitations, I'll burn it, castrate you, and have you expelled for a week. You are not allowed to participate this year because of all the crap you caused the last few years. Not to mention this year."

"That's not fair Sensei. There are several of the young Uke that love me very much."

"Lies. There are several of the young Uke that are too fucking scared of you to admit to your face that they don't like you."

"But Sensei-"

"No buts. The entirety of the faculty agreed to this, not just me. Now shut your mouth and be quiet."

Neji loved Seme teachers. They were allowed to swear and cuss as much as they liked if it'd get the point across. Neji knew some of the Uke teachers that taught his classes and knew for a fact that there was a difference. Uke were meant to be gentle and sweet. Swearing at them was said to make them cry. Neji knew that wasn't true, but in general that was how Uke were treated compared to Seme. Sai had gotten his ass chewed out so many times and had been called so many things. Even his uncle Hiashi would have blushed in surprise.

"I know exactly who I'm going to ask!"

The overly excited boy sitting behind Neji exclaimed. His name was Rock Lee, if Neji remembered correctly and knowing there was someone out there who might accept him was a surprise. Neji didn't dislike him, he just found the boy a little loud and over exuberant.

"Who."

That would be Shino, the boy that didn't talk unless bribed to do so. And Lee poking him in the side was obviously one of those few things that did it.

"That little redhead. You know, the one in Iruka-sensei's class. I think his name was Gaara."

Hell no.

"You don't know his name but your going to ask him anyway?"

"Of course, my mom and dad would love to take him in I just know it. My mom has always had a thing for orphans, just loves them. Why? Who are you asking? Don't tell me it's that loud dog lover."

"Kiba. And yes. I'm asking him again."

"You asked him last year!"

"And I enjoyed his company. So I'm going to ask him again. This is about finding someone you can deal with on a day to day basis and come to love Lee. Not a charity."

"Suit yourself!"

Shino didn't bother responding to that. And Neji was glad. One more word would have encouraged more out of Lee. Instead the boy leaned forward and poked Neji in the back of the neck to get his attention.

Neji turned around gracefully and coolly asked what Lee wanted, pretending he hadn't just been listening to the boy talk.

"Who are you going to ask Nej."

"Don't call me that. Only my mother can call me that. Who I'm asking is none of your business."

"So cold, but you are asking someone right."

"No."

Neji lied. The last thing he wanted was to be declared the boy's rival. He'd seen that happen to people and it never ended well. He wanted Gaara and he would do whatever it took to get him away from Lee.

"Excuse me."

Neji stood up and packed his things into his bag before leaving, Sasuke and Zabuza close behind him. He was going to have a very busy week ahead of him. Gaara wasn't going to say yes without Neji doing something really big as an apology for the boy he'd obviously done so many horrible things to.

Even if he hadn't known it at the time just how things would affect him, he knew eventually his lying would come back to bite him in the ass.

There was one thing Neji really wanted to do though.

Hopefully, Gaara would hate him a little less afterward and then he might actually have a chance of winning the boy's affections.

He was going to make his family come clean about the false accusations they made that day in court that got Gaara and his brother sentenced to jail and parole. He just wasn't sure yet exactly how he was going to do it.

X

Gaara sighed, leaning back in the visitors chair waiting, while they went to get his brother and bring him in from the work yards. The redhead came here every weekend to see his brother and made sure to show up at exactly 4 o'clock so his brother wouldn't have to go out and smash stones. Gaara hated seeing his brother have to go through all this crap for no reason. It wasn't fair.

The two of them hadn't even been there when their father was obliterated.

When Kankuro was finally shown in, Gaara smiled and picked up the phone on his side of the glass.

"Perfect timing. As always, you're the best little brother I could have asked for."

"Your too nice to me."

"You deserve it. So how are things going at school."

Gaara hesitated a moment, hearing his brother's concerned tone through the ear piece.

"It's been alright. Too many rich kids though."

That made Kankuro laugh. Gaara liked that his brother could still do that.

"I got a letter from my parole officer yesterday."

Kankuro stopped laughing and looked concerned.

"What did it say?"

"They're adding another year onto my sentence. Saying I've been uncooperative. It's not fair!"

"I'm sorry, those assholes don't know what they are talking about Gaara. Don't let them make you feel like you're a bad kid. You're the greatest kid I know."

"You don't know many then."

"Not true!"

Gaara smiled and pressed the phone a little closer to his ear.

"I wish they'd let you out. Then we could go off and live our own lives. It'd be great you know. We could watch movies every night with popcorn, hunt down Temari and become a family again."

"I'd like that."

"I would to. I miss you guys."

Talking to Gaara had always made Kankuro feel bad. He wanted out so he could take care of his younger brother. Gaara shouldn't have had to go through all of this alone. He constantly cursed the fact that Temari just up and disappeared but he knew she'd have ended up in jail with him too and that would have been just as bad for the redhead.

"It'll all be better soon. Don't you worry about it."

Kankuro smiled, watching as Gaara smiled back, knowing the younger boy didn't really believe him.

* * *

Welcome back! I hope all of you enjoyed it... This book is going to be longer then the last one so I hope no one minds too much... And again, if anyone has any ideas for a play let me know what you think would work and I'll consider all the options...

Thanks for reading!

-Himitsu


	2. Chapter 2

**The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy**

**-Book 2, Chapter 2-**

Pairings: HakuXZabuza, GaaraXNeji, NarutoXSasuke

_Note: I still don't own the characters, but I claim ownership of the story… hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Haku yawned, glad it was a Sunday and he wouldn't have to go anywhere that day or rush to make breakfast like he usually did every morning. Today he felt like being lazy and just sitting around the dorm room, reading. Gaara had been given a short notice court summons the morning before and everyone had been in a panic for the rest of the night, meaning none of them had gotten enough sleep.

Naruto and Gaara would be going together, but Haku had had to work and decided not to go. Naruto would be enough emotional support for Gaara and when he got home he'd hear all about it from the blonde. He knew that much and it made him feel less guilty for not being there for the redhead.

Haku slowly started to pull things out of the small refrigerator for breakfast. He was going to make miso soup, rice and a bit of fish, which considering some of the other dishes he'd made for the three of them, was a rather simple one.

Tying on a small black apron and twirling his long black hair into a cloth covered ball on the back of his head, Haku got to work cleaning the rice in a big bowl until the water no longer came out milky and slicing the fish so he could focus on the soup last. That was the hardest part.

While he was preparing things, he pulled out his school handbook and placed it face up on the counter next to him, the pages laying open to a certain section he had book marked for later reference.

This Uke-shu thing had been on his mind a lot lately. Haku still wasn't quite sure what it was and so, seeing as their student handbooks had everything in them written so that even a monkey could understand, he'd decided to look it up and see if the little write up made any more sense then his teachers had.

Uke-shu

_This is a traditional holiday made up by the founders of Aishiteru Academy. It stands for Uke week. This means that for five days, the Uke students get the option to:_

_Take the time off _

_Accept an invitation to stay for a week with one of the Seme students_

_In other words, the Uke has the control. If a student doesn't get any invitations from one of the Seme students, then they won't be able to receive the school credit offered for participating in this holiday, but since that isn't their fault, the teachers always have extra things that can be done to make up the credit. _

_However there are two other options. If a student should receive an invitation they can either accept or deny it. If the student denies the invitation then they must make up the credits and talk to their teachers. _

_If the student accepts though, then several other things will take place. _

_First there are rules that have to be followed by both the Uke and Seme. _

_No Sex._

_Ukes have the right for the entire five day week, to do whatever they please so long as none of the rules are broken._

_Neither student is allowed to be in the house by themselves, the Seme's family must be present._

_This holiday is considered a school holiday and by law, the credits for the missed classes will have to be made up, either by participating or not as described above. _

_All parents will be informed if their students have accepted the invitations, they will also be aware of all the rules and be ready to inform the school if either student tries to break these rules. _

_Ukes must be given access to a second room in case they'd prefer to sleep alone. _

_Last of all, if an Uke should accept an invitation, they will receive a waiver from their homeroom teacher stating that they agree to go through the required testing to make sure all the rules stated above are met. Accepting the terms of the testing is the only way to proceed, say no and the students will have to remain in school to do extra activities and work. _

Haku paused when his eyes read over the last rule.

Iruka-sensei hadn't mentioned that one so he figured it must be a new one as of this year, or that the teacher had just considered it unimportant. It made him wonder though. How many of the students here actually wanted to sleep in the same room the first year? That didn't seem to make any sense at all to Haku.

Not that he'd need to worry about it too much.

He wasn't planning on receiving any invitations.

This was by far, one of the longest snippets he'd seen in the hand book since he'd first started reading it. This made sense though when you thought about it. The entire school year seemed to be focused on four main events, each of which took up multiple pages of explanation in the book. Uke-shu just happened to be the first one.

This up coming week would be the final week any of the Seme could get their invitations out and Haku had a feeling it was going to be a rather hectic week.

Some of the earlier invitations had already been handed out on Friday, but of course Haku hadn't gotten one. He wasn't expecting anything from anyone. Sai didn't really seem to like him for anything other than a trophy and even though Naruto had no clue, Haku could tell where the creepy raven headed boy's intentions truly lay. Gaara was the only one of the three of them to get anything and the invitation had only served to make redhead angry.

It'd been an invitation from Rock Lee, the boy who'd outted them on the bus that one fateful day after their first round of volunteering. It'd been around four weeks since then, but things were still just as tense. No one had forgotten what charity it would be to take interest in one of the orphans.

Screw their pity. Haku was sick of it, sick of being the one used by the Seme population. They only wanted his attention so they could be introduced to Naruto and Gaara, the far more outgoing and eye catching of the three orphans.

Even Naruto, as clueless as he could be at times, was being affected by the nervous energy going around. They all felt it.

X

Gaara had slept in later than he'd liked and was currently running around the small apartment looking for his socks. He only had a limited amount of them that weren't inscribed with the school symbol and they always seemed to be missing. Most of the time Naruto had them, but today they hadn't been in the boy's drawers.

What was worse for Gaara, was Naruto had even been up and ready before him. Neither he or Haku had bothered to wake him obviously and Naruto was usually never up before him on the weekends. It was unheard of and made Gaara feel embarrassed, angry at himself.

He'd been furious when he'd stormed out of the room half dressed to see them both at the table eating breakfast.

Gaara had had to skip breakfast that morning and his stomach was letting him know just how much it approved of that decision. It'd whined at him and growled the entire time he and Naruto had been clinging to the little hand holds on the swaying train.

This had not been a good morning so far, definitely a bad omen.

Naruto assured him everything was going to be fine, but Gaara, having taken into consideration his luck that morning, wasn't about to believe him. He'd sooner believe a rooster could sprout pink feathers and turn into a flamingo than believe things were going to be okay.

In the end, the redhead had had to put on his school socks, which to him were an eyesore mixed in with his normal attire. Everyone within a ten block radius could see the Seme sword stitched into the sides of them, the Uke rose vine twined around it. His face went red with the effort it was taking to ignore the hideous garments. Every few seconds he'd try in vain to pull the hems of his pants down to cover them.

It took about twenty minutes of riding on the jostling train before they were finally at the station right across the street from the court house. This was the part Gaara wasn't excited for, not that he'd been excited for any of it to begin with. This part however, filled him with a particular sense of dread.

He'd received a court summons Saturday morning, which had practically ruined his day.

He figured it'd have something to do with his parole and was hating the Hyuugas even more for it. It was because of them that he and his brother had been convicted of murder in the first place. They were innocent though and he had a sneaking suspicion that the Hyuuga family just didn't care.

So much for equal representation and solid evidence.

There hadn't actually been evidence putting them at the scene of the crime, so the Hyuugas had made something up and claimed it, according to the redhead. They were such liars that Gaara was half considering just going on a murderous rampage. The bastards would deserve to die, and he'd start with Neji.

Gaara was seeing the truth in the statement Haku had made about him earlier that morning. He did have anger issues. He wasn't about to blame himself though.

Gaara felt Naruto's hand circle his wrist, pulling him out of the packed morning train and onto the platform. The crowds of people heading out for a long day of work rushed up through the station and out the far exit, sweeping the two boys off with them. It took less time then Gaara liked, getting to the front doors of the court house, where the crowd conveniently left them.

Things just got worse for him when they wandered inside. The clean and polished tile floors and marble pillars made Gaara want to get a sledge hammer and just have at it. Where did they get off being so shiny and white?

He was shown to his seat in the front of the room by one of the police officers on scene, Naruto being placed right behind him in the fenced off section so the two of them could still talk while they waited. There wasn't much Gaara wanted to say though, so he'd stayed quiet, waiting to hear the next decision other people were making for his future.

Kankuro was lead in and place in the chair next to Gaara shortly after he himself had been seated. The fact that he'd been brought in just confirmed the fact that it had to do with his parole and his brother's imprisonment.

This had Gaara pissed off… again. What had his brother done? Nothing!

He was a good man and had always been there for Gaara when the boy needed him, almost like a father, but more like a protective and caring older brother. He and Temari had always been the ones looking out for him and making sure he was well taken care of. They were a small and incomplete family, but it had always been good enough for Gaara.

Now it was incomplete, small, and broken. Things had definitely changed for the worst.

Kankuro looked just as upset as Gaara was at seeing him. He obviously hadn't wanted Gaara involved in any of this and even though he loved the redhead, he hadn't wanted to see him this way. Nothing good ever came out of a court hearing when it came to the two of them.

X

Neji was going to be in so much trouble when his uncle found out what he was doing. He certainly wouldn't have to wait long, so he had to hurry and make sure he wasn't interrupted.

He'd been planning this for a long time now and was more nervous than ever.

He was going to have to admit that his family had made a mistake and correct it in the most educated way, because the last thing he needed was for his family's reputation to fall apart. They were actual honest lawyers and apart from a few fudges, had relatively few cases they had to muddle with.

Others were far worse and they were still out saving the asses of murderers, condemning innocents in their place instead.

Neji was proud of his family. Really, the Sabaku convictions were the only thing he wasn't proud of, and that had been his own doing. Sure his family had helped, but things had gone the way Neji had wanted. He'd pulled all the strings.

Karma really had come back to bite him in the ass.

The one boy he'd actually been interested in for more than a day, was the one who hated him the most, and for good reason.

Neji walked into the court room right on time.

Making sure the preliminary re-opening of the case went quickly, the long haired brunette kept his eyes firmly set on the jury and the judge. Looking at Kankuro would probably get him an endless amount of stab wounds from the daggers the boy was sure to glare at him. If he didn't see the expression, it could be ignored.

Neji didn't even want to think of looking at Gaara.

Not until this was all over and he had gone into hiding for a week. He'd have to avoid Gaara for the next few days, not to mention his uncle.

"After carefully looking over the data my family had previously compiled, I realized there were quite a few gaps in this case that I'd over looked. I'm afraid to say I made false accusations on account of the previously presented evidence being false."

Neji said clearly, sounding much more certain then he felt.

The people of the jury were surprised at first, but they quickly settled down when they realized he wasn't finished.

"My accusations were founded at the time but I have been rethinking this case as it was a rather difficult one and seemed a little unorganized."

Neji pulled out a bunch of pretty papers that said next to nothing, but would fool just about anyone, snapping his brief case shut again before handing them over to the officer who took them to the judge.

"I have reason to believe the previous evidence had been purposely placed to throw us off. I'm ashamed to see it worked so well. However I am here to rectify that mistake."

A few more things were said and words flew back and forth, but Neji knew he'd already swayed them.

This was one of the easier judges. Something he was always ashamed to admit he knew. It made the job of the judge seem much less the respectful profession than it had once seemed to him.

Now he thought of them as gullible idiots.

But eventually the case came to a close and he didn't have to listen to them squabble back and forth anymore.

The decision had been made.

Gaara was to be let off of parole so long as he played nice with the counselor assigned to talk to him at the end of this next week. Sort of like an overall evaluation. And Kankuro was going to be freed so long as he agreed to meet with an officer as a sort of parole for the next three weeks.

He'd be given an apartment near the school Gaara was attending and was given three months to find a job.

Neji thought that was a generous amount.

Nothing else needed done and while Kankuro was being un-chained, Neji slipped out of the room, preparing to be scolded over dinner later that night. He completely missed the shocked and appreciative look he was given by a pair of light green eyes as he hurried from the room.

X

Zabuza had been looking for the right opportunity to confront Haku again for quite awhile now, but every time he'd gotten discouraged and went home like a coward.

He wasn't even sure what had gone on between them anymore. All he knew was Haku had been hurt and he needed to fix it. Zabuza couldn't even begin to understand how he was supposed to do this. He wasn't even sure why Haku had gotten so upset in the locker room the last time they'd seen each other.

He'd gotten covered in cream pie (Zabuza would never admit he'd actually eaten a bit of it off one of the lockers to find out what it'd been.) but the tall man knew for certain that that hadn't been the only thing wrong.

Just Zabuza being there had made Haku cry. He wanted to know why.

Moving up to the door he'd visited so many times before, Zabuza forced himself to knock loudly so that whoever was inside would here him.

He hoped it was only Haku.

He'd get an ear full if Gaara was the one who answered.

But to his amazement, it really was Haku who answered, although the boy seemed less excited about it then he was.

"I can see you're busy."

Zabuza said, feeling stupid. Haku was in the process of tying his hair up on the back of his head with a red ribbon. He had on a plaid shirt, black apron, and khaki pants that made him look adorably innocent and at the same time, very much like he was going off to work at a grocery store for the health conscious.

"I was just getting ready for work. I have to leave soon."

Zabuza sighed and held out the small white daisies he'd brought with him. It was so corny, and to make it even worse, the flowers were semi-crumpled from his big hands. It was obvious he'd tried picking them himself, failing when he realized his fingers just weren't meant for gentle plucking. The stems of the poor flowers were absolutely ragged from how hard Zabuza had tried to pull them up. One of them still had a root attached.

Haku thought it was the most adorable thing he'd ever seen.

Zabuza wanted to make things up to him, when in truth, Haku had to admit, the man hadn't done anything wrong to begin with.

"Come in for a moment?"

The tall man looked grateful and let himself in, sitting himself at one of the barstools against the counter while Haku took the flowers to the sink. He'd have trimmed the ends of the daisies to help them out, but they were just too cute to change. They ended up in a glass vase, roots and all.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry. I know you were upset."

"Then let me say something. I was just so frightened of the way everyone was treating me that when I saw you standing there looking at me I felt like crying. I get teased and made fun of all the time. That's not the first time I've had something dumped on me. I just didn't want you to see it."

Haku cut Zabuza off before he could say anything, he needed to get everything out or he'd lose his confidence.

"You were the one person I always wanted to look good for. It was a petty reason. I'm sorry I worried you so much."

He smiled and placed the vase of daisies on the counter. Haku expected Zabuza to get up and leave, now that he'd heard what had really been going on. But the man just stood up and circled his arms around him from behind.

Haku had not expected this.

"Whatever the reason, I just wished I'd gotten to eat the rest of the pie. It was delicious."

Zabuza smiled at the top of the boy's head, which was all he could really see from this angle.

"I won't keep you any longer, you need to get going."

Zabuza let go of Haku and made for the door, a smile plastered on his face. There were many words left unspoken, but the surprised look on Haku's face as Zabuza closed the door behind him, told him that the smaller boy understood.

Zabuza didn't like him any less then he had before. His affections were unchanged.

* * *

For those of you who are curious, there are also going to be around six different books for this story.

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!

-Himitsu


	3. Chapter 3

**The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy**

**-Book 2, Chapter 3-**

Pairings: NarutoXSasuke, GaaraXNeji, HakuXZabuza

* * *

Today was Monday, the last day of class and the last day for receiving invitations. Really there weren't any classes today, but the teachers had to give the slacking Seme the time to get the rest of their invitations out. Naruto was not looking forward to today. Already Gaara had more invitations than he knew what to do with and the blonde had nothing. Well, nothing he was interested in.

The real reason he was angry, jealous even, was because Gaara had gotten an invitation from Neji, finally. Haku had gotten one from Zabuza also, and now Naruto was going to be the only one not getting an invitation from one of the three rich boys.

Why did he have to like the one with no feeling?

Why'd he have to get the stoic bastard?

Sure he liked Sasuke more than he was willing to admit to himself, but the boy was such a jerk. He made Naruto feel like he didn't exist and that was one thing the blonde had never been able to stand. Many people had treated him like that, and every time he'd hated it.

If the Uchiha really did give in and decide to give him an invite, he was going to refuse and throw it back in the boy's face, just to see if he'd flinch or get angry.

He probably wouldn't be fazed though, much to Naruto's resentment.

So sighing to himself, the blonde grudgingly got up from his desk and wandered out into the hall and toward one of his free period classes.

They'd been given the option to do whatever they wanted and to go to whichever classes they wanted to go to that day, just to kill time until they could meet up again at the end of the day for the final testing and participation registration, during home room.

He wasn't expecting to be pulled into the boy's bathroom though as he walked down the hall with his head down.

Nor did he think it'd actually be Sasuke on the other side of the door, but there he was, looking a little irritated at even having to be there. Naruto completely misunderstood the flush that was adorning the other boy's cheeks, assuming it was from anger rather than embarrassment and self-consciousness.

"What?"

"Here."

Naruto looked down at the envelope the boy had shoved into his hands. There was certainly no mistaking what it could have been, but the blonde decided to play dumb like usual.

"What is it?"

"It's an invitation dobe. I'm sure you've seen enough of those these passed two weeks to last you a life time."

"Oh is that what it is? Well thanks but I don't need it."

Naruto actually went through with shoving the invitation back in the other boy's hands.

"I've already decided I'm going to accept the invitation I got from Hinata. She's such a nice girl, I'm sure I'll like her."

Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Is that so."

Naruto saw it and was completely surprised by it. This was possibly the equivalent to a punch in the gut and a few harsh words from the stoic Uchiha. The blonde was so stunned by the small action that he completely missed Sasuke's departure until the boy was already down the hall outside the bathrooms.

Naruto had wanted a rise out of the boy, but he'd never expected that he'd actually get one.

X

Sasuke was beyond upset. He'd go so far as to say he was pissed.

The boy seemed to think that he was actually asking. However, that was the last thing the Uchiha was actually doing. The blonde was going to accept his invitation and they were going to spend the week together whether the boy truly wanted to or not.

Nothing was more humiliating to Sasuke than to be turned down.

If the blonde had just accepted, then he wouldn't have had to do this, but as it was, Sasuke was going to go to great lengths to make the blonde see reason.

"Aniki."

"Ah, if it isn't my little brother. Was there something you needed?"

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation as he headed off to one of his medical classes. His brother just loved it when Sasuke called, because usually it meant the boy was stooping so low as to ask for help. Big brothers were a pain.

"He refused."

"Did he? I'll be there shortly, have faith."

"It's not faith I want."

"Naturally. Now go enjoy your classes, I'll make sure he's begging you for your invitation back by the end of today."

"Thank you."

"Heh."

Sasuke hung up on his brother before the other man decided to comment on the thanks Sasuke had so unwillingly given him. Itachi always made if extremely hard for Sasuke to feel proud of himself. The man was always so condescending. He made the raven feel like a child. However desperate times called for desperate measures and Sasuke had to admit that Itachi was far better at "negotiations" than the younger boy had ever been. You had to be good with people and be able to manipulate them. No one had as of yet, been able to beat his older brother at those two feats.

Sasuke would win this. It had gotten personal the moment the blonde had refused him.

X

Haku blushed slightly as he slipped out of his cooking class and down the hallway toward the gym. Today they weren't in their normal classes, but chances were, Zabuza wouldn't be far from his martial arts classes and if anything, could probably be found training alone in the gym.

Haku was getting to know the boy well enough to understand that much at least.

It might have been too soon, but Haku was rather curious as to why the boy wanted to be such a great martial arts master. They had yet to talk about anything like that and his previous misunderstanding and upsetting of the boy hadn't helped them get to know each other any better.

Haku felt like he'd wasted time, acting the way he had.

But Zabuza had dropped it and forgiven him without much thought and that was what counted now. Haku would just have to learn as much as he could with the rest of the time they'd get to spend together. Which Haku was surprised to find, might be a lot more than he'd previously thought.

That morning, Haku had received an invitation to spend the holiday with Zabuza at his family estate. Something the little raven hadn't been expecting. Sure he figured they were good friends, but he hadn't expected any sort of special treatment.

Haku smiled to himself when he thought about Zabuza and began looking for the other man through the observation windows in the gym room doors.

He didn't see him but that didn't mean he wasn't there. The room was empty of people, save for the few that were lingering to pack up their things. Haku slipped inside and headed for the locker rooms to see if Zabuza was maybe in there changing or showering off. It didn't even cross his mind that he might find the boy doing exactly that.

When he entered the rooms, the first thing he saw was rows of vacant lockers and no one in sight, but then he heard the showers turn off and the man he'd been looking for came out.

Wrapped in nothing but a towel and still dripping water.

"Haku?"

The smaller boy made one of the most embarrassing high pitched squeaks he'd ever made and immediately shut his eyes, holding his hands out stiffly in front of him. His cheeks had gone bright red from the view he'd gotten of an almost naked Zabuza. This was starting to seem like a bad idea.

"I b-brought this for y-you."

He stuttered awkwardly, still keeping his eyes firmly closed.

Haku felt Zabuza step closer to him and he felt the weight of the food he'd had in his hands disappear when the man took it from him.

"I remembered you saying that you'd wanted to try the pie I'd made before, when I spilled it all over. So I made you another one. I hope you like it!"

Haku said in a rush, not bothering to see if Zabuza had understood him. Instead he opened his eyes and quickly tried to leave so he wouldn't have to feel any more awkward, but something caught his arm, halting him.

"I'm flattered that you remembered. Thank you."

Haku turned to look up at the older boy, but he didn't get a chance to reply before a pair of gently pressing lips captured his own.

The boy was so surprised he completely froze.

Zabuza pulled away and Haku could hear faint laughing as the boy moved to pull his uniform out of his gym bag. Haku hadn't realized it, but he must have been standing there for several minutes in his daze because he soon heard Zabuza speaking again. Making fun of him.

"I didn't know there were people out there who actually froze when you kissed them."

Haku shook himself out of his statue-like state and pouted good naturedly before a smile took over his face again. He just couldn't be upset for long.

"There was something else I wanted to tell you."

"Oh?"

"I wanted to tell you in person and give you this."

Haku pulled a letter out of one of his pockets and handed it over. It was the letter he'd written that morning in homeroom after he'd gotten Zabuza's invitation.

"Open it."

Zabuza did as instructed and Haku got to watch as a soft smile spread over the other boy's face as he read.

"I'd like to spend the week with you if you'll still have me."

Haku said quietly, just barely realizing that Zabuza could have already said yes to someone else. Even though he hadn't mentioned asking anyone else.

"I'd like that."

"Really?"

Zabuza just laughed quietly at him again and ran his fingers through the long bangs Haku had hanging down around his face.

"I'd have had a rather boring week ahead of me if you hadn't said yes. You were the only one I asked."

"There weren't any others?"

"I don't like anyone else."

Haku smiled, a little proud of himself for earning such attention from such a nice guy.

"I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Bright and early. I'll come by your rooms and pick you up if that's alright?"

"That'd be great."

"Good, now don't you have a class to be getting back to?"

Haku gasped and his hands flew up to cover his mouth.

"I completely forgot."

"It's not really important to go to class today anyway. I was just seeing what you'd say."

"You seem to be teasing me much more than usual."

"I've missed seeing you."

Haku smiled again and ran to the other boy, hoping for the element of surprise as he wrapped his arms around the man's torso and hugged tightly. Zabuza certainly hadn't been expecting the sudden weight that nearly knocked him over.

"Tomorrow then."

Haku giggled and ran back out of the room and toward his cooking class, more excited than he had been all morning.

X

"Ah, there you are."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Someone you're going to absolutely love. Now more to the point, I believe you refused to spend the holidays with my little brother."

"I knew you looked familiar."

"Yes, family thing. We all tend to be strikingly beautiful, now tell me. Did you really refuse him?"

"Yes! Who the hell wouldn't?"

"Half the school. Now, I've been asked to persuade you since you don't seem to be at all pleased with my brother. Would you like me to try my hand at persuasion?"

"It won't work."

"Don't be so sure."

Naruto did not like where this conversation was going, especially now that he'd pissed the older boy off. He definitely did not like the look the man was giving him.

"You see, when my brother gets upset, I'm the one who suffers and that's hardly fair now is it?"

The blonde looked down the hall but for some reason, all the people that had been there had completely vanished, leaving him alone with this crazy guy.

"I hate to see him sulk and what's worse, he gets extremely annoying when he's in a bad mood. He whines and pouts… It's so childish!"

Naruto was not getting where this was supposed to be going.

So far, very little persuading had been done to him and he was merely being pinned to the wall by a man he was quickly deciding, was far from straight. No other straight man would honestly go on and on like this guy was.

"So here's the deal. You spend the week with my brother, and I don't slit each and every one of your finger tips. Do we have a deal? Because I could easily slip a few maggots into your bed tonight if you don't think I'm being reasonable."

The man in front of him looked completely serious. That was the creepy part.

The other creepy part was the knife tip the boy had pressed into the soft pad of his right pinky. Naruto had never been threatened or mugged in his life, but if this was how it felt, he definitely wouldn't last long.

"Well? What do you say?"

"I say you're full of bullshit."

Naruto immediately regretted saying that as the boy easily slit the tips of both his pinky and ring finger on his right hand. It wasn't just light paper cut type cuts either, Naruto had gotten to see the entire tip of the knife disappear underneath his skin. He was so shocked that the blood dripping to the floor from his two fingers didn't even register until the man spoke to him again.

"Let's try this again shall we?"

"I'll go tell him yes right now. I swear to god!"

"Wonderful! It was so lovely meeting you!"

Naruto just nodded his head, dazed as the other man shook his hand, smiled and walked off down the hall that now seemed to be full of people again. Nothing that weird had ever happened to him before in his life.

Having absolutely no will of his own left, Naruto walked quickly down the hall in search of Sasuke, the one boy he knew, who could at least keep that creep away from him. Even if it had been the boy's fault he'd gotten hurt to begin with.

The blonde was beginning to dislike the Uchiha family. Sasuke seemed like a breath of fresh air when compared to his brother, which was definitely something Naruto never thought he'd say.

X

Gaara sighed, hanging up the phone in their dorm room and staring up at the ceiling from where he'd been lounging on the living room couch. He hadn't been sure what to do when he got the invitation letter from the Hyuuga. There were so many things the boy had done to make his life horrible, but he'd been trying so hard to make it up to him lately that he couldn't help but feel a little guilty about it.

His brother was free now and that had always been his main issue with the boy, but now that that had been fixed, things had gotten so much easier for Gaara.

His brother had a nice apartment nearby, so Gaara could easily go see him now, and his record had been cleaned of any charges. There wasn't much room in the place for the redhead to stay since his brother had had to find a roommate to help pay for the place, but so far he'd even gotten a job and things were going well.

Gaara knew that the only reason things had happened so easily was because Neji had been pulling the strings and slipping money into his brother's bank account.

Gaara hadn't known what to do at all, so he'd done the only thing he'd thought might help. He'd called his brother.

"Are you sure I should do this?"

"Well he has been trying really hard to make things right again. Knowing how well known the Hyuuga's are, his family has probably been giving him hell for getting me out of prison the way he did. I'm sure it made them look bad no matter how hard he tried to smooth it over. He's done a lot to earn your favor lately."

"It's just so sudden, what if he goes back to being an ass once I say yes?"

"Well think of it this way, if he's just out to get you in bed, at least you'll be able to hold him off long enough to get a wedding out of him, and then you'll be rich and you can steal all his money right out from under him!"

"I can't believe you just said that."

"I'm right though aren't I?"

"Shut up!"

"So you have thought about it. What a bad little brother you are!"

"I have not! I've just wondered what it'd be like to actually have money is all. Is that such a bad thing to think about?"

"Of course not."

"Then stop teasing me."

"Look, all I'm trying to say is, if you like him and you feel like he's worth a shot then you should go for it. You don't really have much to lose in all this do you? Besides, not everyone finds love so if you have, then you should totally hold on to it."

"I'm not in love with him! God you're an idiot."

"Love you too Gaa! Now I have to go. Let me know what happens okay?"

"I will."

Gaara hadn't been happy with his brother saying what he had, but it had gotten him thinking. Did he really have some sort of regard for the Hyuuga? Sure he'd been getting soft lately, but that didn't mean he was falling for the boy. It just meant he pitied him.

Gaara nodded to himself, unsuccessfully convincing himself that it was just pity. He wasn't in the mood to think about that right now.

Neji was still going to have to do a lot more before he'd ever get that friendly with him. That much Gaara knew. He wasn't PLAYING hard to get, he just WAS hard to get.

Moving to pick up the phone again, Gaara quickly dialed the number written in neat black pen on the invitation in front of him and waited for the answering machine to pick up. Hoping the boy himself wouldn't actually answer.

X

The day ended earlier than usual and everyone who wasn't going to be spending the holidays with someone, were dismissed to go home. Much to Gaara's dismay, over half their class had disappeared and headed back to their dorms, meaning they were three of the few to have actually accepted any of their invites.

"So what do we do now Iruka-sensei?"

Gaara heard Naruto ask as the door closed behind the last person leaving to head back to the dorms.

"Now comes the preliminary testing. I'm sorry about this but it has to be done to keep you kids safe so first we'll start off by checking your names off on the participation list and go from there.

Gaara, Haku and Naruto sat quietly while Iruka marked them off as participating. This was the part of the holiday that Gaara wasn't looking forward to, apart from the whole nerve-wracking experience of having to stay at some stranger's house for a week.

"Okay, now the next part is just filling out a general information form, which every student has to do, including those in the Seme classes. While you guys are doing that, each of you will be called back into the nurses office one at a time to participate in the blood testing and physicals. Once those things are done your all set to head home. Just make sure you hand me your test results and your information sheets before you leave."

That had a few of the other Uke kids tapping there fingers nervously or breaking into hushed conversation with their friends about what the testing would be like.

Gaara turned to talk to Haku and Naruto but for some reason, he was the one the nurses came for first.

Neji had better be worth all this mess and make his week enjoyable or he was going to give that kid one hell of a week.

* * *

There's the third chapter of Aishiteru Academy... hope you guys liked it!

There are going to be around eight chapters in this book for those who are curious... maybe not exactly eight... but somewhere around there...

I've also got a new story started called 'Surviving the South' for those of you who might be interested...

Thanks for reading and again, hope you liked it!

-Himitsu


	4. Chapter 4

**The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy**

**-Book 2, Chapter 4-**

Pairings: GaaraXNeji, HakuXZabuza, NarutoXSasuke

* * *

Gaara headed down the hall with a nurse from the nearby medical college leading the way in front of him. She was a nice enough woman, plain looking with brown hair and eyes, but none of this made Gaara feel any more at ease about having to go get a physical done.

The nurse had been explaining to the redhead, as they walked, about what this sort of testing would entail and so far, it didn't sound half bad, until she mentioned the part about inserting a tracker into his body. She quickly skipped over that part like it was nothing and continued talking about how they would be taking his weight, height, and a small blood sample. Gaara hadn't had to do this since he'd been checked into the Griffith Orphanage years before. This was something they'd done for him back then and he'd been too young to remember it very clearly. There certainly hadn't been any needles or inserting of any kind involved however. That much he was certain of.

When they reached the nurses' office, Gaara saw a few other kids being brought in from other classes as well, a few of them were already being weighed and measured on the scales lining one side of the hallway wall. This was the first thing that Gaara would have to suffer through. When the woman pressed him back, barefoot and uncomfortable onto the tall silver weight scales, she decided to tell him everything that was wrong with him, something that Gaara neither liked nor thought was very professional.

The redhead deemed this woman a talker as well, someone entirely too dimwitted to be worth his time. She had absolutely no sense of shame or tact.

"Hmm… It looks like you're quite a bit under weight for your age. I think I'll schedule a session with the diet therapist and have that fixed. What do you say? Will you start eating again if we get someone willing to talk to you about this problem?"

"I've always been this thin, I eat four if not five times a day and it goes right through me. I have a fast metabolism and I'm not bulimic. I know what you were hinting at. I won't go if you set up this stupid appointment."

"Fine, but promise me you'll work on it?"

"No."

The woman sighed and Gaara folded his arms irritatedly. The woman proceeded to ignore him and the next thing she pulled out was the small silver stick that stuck up out of the back of the scales. This contraption was meant to measure him. Something he was very much against, especially since he knew this woman was going to mention how irregular his height was for a boy his age.

"Looks like your about five inches shorter than average. I'll assume that was from your lack of food intake these passed few years."

"Damn it woman! I eat just like everyone else. Leave it alone."

Gaara was not happy and why should he be? This woman sure knew how to push all the buttons that were most sensitive for the redhead. His weight and height had always made him self conscious and he'd only just barely been getting over that. Being friends with Haku, who was even shorter and smaller than he was, had its perks in the self confidence department. If Haku had to deal with this woman, she'd probably end up making him cry.

The woman had the nerve to huff at him before pushing him back into a separate room.

"Sit there and I'll find someone willing to stick you."

She walked off leaving Gaara to wonder exactly how she became a nurse. Doctors and nurses were supposed to be all smiles and be able to put up with just about anything from their patients. This woman obviously hadn't had to deal with anyone quite like Gaara yet. She was going to need a lot more practice before she'd ever be seriously considered for a professional nursing position.

Gaara sat there, unfazed by the woman's sudden, rude departure. It took nearly ten minutes for anyone else to show up. She'd probably forgot to say anything to anyone, probably thought it'd be funny if he had to sit there alone all day.

The man that appeared a few minutes later said absolutely nothing to him as he looked over Gaara's paperwork. It was only after that, as he was prepping a needle, that he said anything at all, even then it wasn't much.

"I'm going to draw a little blood from you, hold still."

"Right."

The man didn't wait. He stuck the needle into the soft tissue of Gaara's arm with perfect accuracy and drained the blood he needed quickly, with little care or concern made for the redhead he was piercing. It hurt like a bitch, but Gaara just bit his tongue and held still.

"We're done here. Drink all of this solution and head back up to class."

"Wait, I'm not drinking that until you tell me what it is."

"You can't go unless you drink it. It's the tracker that tells us if you've had sex and who with. Just drink it kid, the nurses will check you once you're done to make sure you actually took it, it'll be in your system for the next six days. Don't try anything stupid."

Gaara had a new respect for doctors. Especially this one, he was perfectly clear when it came to explaining that he didn't give a damn what the redhead did. Gaara had never felt like such a delinquent as when that man left him sitting there, alone in the room with a small plastic cup of milky purple liquid.

This was not what Gaara was expecting.

When the nurse had said tracker, he'd thought they were going to shoot some sort of chip into his arm that made all the circulation in his left side stop. Instead he was given something that looked a lot like it could be grape flavored milk. When he drank it, he certainly could have been fooled. It tasted just like it looked.

Only, it made his breath smell very strongly of grape and sour milk.

When he walked out of the room, a nurse standing at the door with a clip board stopped him and asked him to breathe out. He did, and she breathed in.

"Okay, smells like you took it. Good kid. What's your name?"

"Sabaku."

"Thanks! You can head back up to class now."

Gaara walked out of the room and headed back up to class as a nurse walked by with Naruto in tow. The blonde gave him a curious look, obviously looking to see how it'd gone. Gaara just shrugged and kept walking. It hadn't been great, but it hadn't been as bad as he was expecting either. Naruto would probably end up loving the attention.

X

The next day came quickly, despite the fact that none of them got to sleep until late. The three boys had been tested, and had turned in all the necessary paperwork before heading home together. The rest of the night they'd spent perched on the stools around the kitchen counter talking about the tests and what the rest of the week was going to be like as Haku cooked dinner for them.

It turned ten o'clock before Haku mentioned needing to sleep so he would be awake when Zabuza came by to pick him up the next morning.

"I'm so excited, I can't believe we're going to be spending a week with them. It'll be fun! I just know it!"

Gaara had just laughed at the usually shy and quiet boy.

"I'm going to go to bed so the morning comes faster. I'm so glad I packed last night or I'd probably be up for the next hour trying to figure out what to take."

Haku had gone to bed after that. Leaving Naruto and Gaara to realize for themselves that they hadn't packed yet.

Gaara didn't have a whole lot to take, but it took him a good hour to figure out which non-school oriented outfits he wanted to take with him. He really didn't think any of his clothes were good enough since he was spending the week with a rich kid, but he gave up caring and just threw everything into a backpack before calling it a night.

Naruto had still been up worrying about what he was going to wear when Gaara finally fell asleep.

X

Naruto was beyond tired. He hadn't gotten to bed until three o'clock that morning because every time he tried to go to bed, he'd remember something he'd forgotten to pack. He wouldn't be able to sleep until he'd packed it so every few minutes he'd remember something new and have to get up and hunt the item down all over again.

Haku was bright and cheery the next morning, already setting the table for breakfast by the time Naruto had finally managed to push himself out of bed. Even Gaara looked well rested.

Their bags had been pulled out into the front room. Even Naruto's duffle bag had been pulled out and set on the sofa. The blonde made sure to sit down and eat before he was awake enough to start worrying. He didn't feel at all ready to be spending the week at Sasuke's house.

He barely finished breakfast and had his plate cleaned off when someone knocked on the front door.

Naruto had never thought he could get so nervous about anything, but seeing all three rich boys on the other side of the door made him realize otherwise. Naruto put his head down on the table and tried to wake himself up a little more.

"You coming Dobe?"

"What?"

"Haku and Gaara have already started heading downstairs. There's a car waiting for all of us in front of the building, hurry up."

Naruto had been sitting there trying to pull himself together as everyone else left without him. Even Sasuke had noticed how out of it Naruto was. The blonde followed quietly after the raven, locking the door behind him and heading down to the waiting limo where Zabuza was packing the last bag into the back of the stretched car. Naruto watched Sasuke help put his duffle into the trunk as well before the two of them closed it up.

Zabuza quickly disappeared inside the car to be with Haku, but Sasuke stayed standing by the door waiting for him.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm just a little nervous. I'll get over it."

"Oh… I'm sorry. I'll try to make this week a little less of a worry for you. Don't worry, I won't try anything. I'll be on my best behavior."

Naruto really wanted to make some sort of snarky comment or laugh at how ridiculous Sasuke just sounded, but seeing the slightly guilty, yet serious look on the raven's face had him changing his mind before he could get anything out that would end up offending the other boy.

"Thank you. It means a lot."

"I'm glad to hear it."

Naruto ducked into the car, more confused than anything. This nicer version of Sasuke was definitely new. He wasn't sure how to handle the nice comment he'd just gotten for thanking the raven.

Maybe things wouldn't be so bad, maybe Sasuke really wasn't as much of a bastard as Naruto had previously thought.

X

Gaara watched out the windows as the five other people in the limo talked quietly around him. He'd felt it necessary to look away after he caught Haku and Zabuza looking all gooey eyed at each other the first three times. It'd started to make him angry and instead of getting overly protective of Haku and starting a fight, he'd decided to distract himself with the view sliding by outside the windows.

The limo drove until the once tall buildings that had been crammed together over streets of fast moving traffic, turned into small comfortable houses with large yards and little air pollution. Gaara had never been outside of the city before. He'd never even been to the suburbs surrounding the city, which was the small layer of housing and neighborhoods they'd just passed through.

They drove for about fifteen more minutes, the houses outside becoming few and far between, before they finally rolled up to the hidden gates to a small gated community that was made up of three houses, three enormous houses. There was nothing around them but woods and when the gates opened to let them inside, there seemed to be miles of mowed lawn stretching between them and each of the houses.

Gaara had never seen such beautiful houses or yards before in his life.

The house to the right of the road was what Gaara would have called a castle. It had a small walkway built all around the house with several sets of stairs leading up to it and tall peaked roofs and turrets that made Gaara think of the tower Rapunzel had been locked inside of. The whole house was made up of grey brick and light colored trim and was surrounded by tall flowering trees and pretty gardens that lined each walkway. This was the house they stopped in front of first.

Neji got out of the car and was quickly followed out of the car by Zabuza, the two of them moved to the trunk in the back to start removing bags, but Sasuke stayed in the car.

"In two days, we'll be having a charity dinner that my parents have been setting up for over a month. You three have been invited to come along with the rest of the Hyuugas and Momochis. I believe our mother's were planning on taking the three of you shopping for suitable clothes to wear tomorrow so be prepared."

He stopped talking for a few seconds before seeming to realize that they were still there.

"This is where you get out Gaara, Haku."

Gaara nodded and quickly pulled Haku out of the car with him. Once they were out and Zabuza had shut the trunk again, the limo pulled up to the house at the very end of the road and began to park in one of the huge side garages.

Gaara watched as Zabuza carried Haku's things across the street and up to a very traditional looking house across from the castle, on the left side of the street.

It wasn't what the redhead would have expected of the Momochi family but it was still a very nice house. It was made with all the curved roofs and off colored paint that Japanese style temples were known for and that's certainly what Zabuza's house looked like. There were many Japanese maple trees blocking the view into the front windows and Gaara could see what seemed to be the corner of a huge sand garden hidden behind a fence to the side of the house.

The redhead was sure Haku was going to love the house, and if he got to wear a kimono to match it, he knew the boy would be in heaven. He was slowly convincing himself not to worry about the other boy too much.

As for he himself he was going to get to stay in the castle. For the first time this whole trip, Gaara got excited.

Neji led him inside the house and Gaara proceeded to explore into just about every room they passed, unless the brunette said it was one of the other family member's bedrooms, but there were so many rooms, Gaara certainly wasn't lacking for places to explore.

After exploring most of the house, the redhead was shown to his room where one of the maids had previously set his bags after they'd been taken from Neji at the door.

"My room's down at the end of the hall if you need anything. Take the rest of the time to unpack and get comfortable. Dinner is in an hour and one of the maids will be by to show you to the dining room when it's time. If you have any questions or need to find me, you can ask them, I have to wash up for dinner and you should probably do the same."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Your welcome. I'll see you soon?"

Gaara noticed the question at the end of the sentence and even though Neji started to leave like he wasn't expecting an answer, the redhead nodded his head in acknowledgment anyway. Neji smiled a little at him before closing the door.

X

Dinner was a strange even in the Uchiha household. Naruto had never had a dinner like this before, it was more like a feast really, and the only other people eating with him were Sasuke, his creepy older brother Itachi, and this big blue man named Kisame that the blonde was afraid he'd have to sit next to.

The Uchiha parents were no where to be found, but Sasuke told him that's only because they had been on a business trip for the passed week and wouldn't be home until later that night.

Naruto was grateful he wouldn't have to deal with the whole family at once.

There was only so much the blonde could take, and dinner with Itachi and the boy's fiancé was more than enough for him on the first night. Itachi did nothing but laugh and talk about childhood stories involving him and Sasuke the entire time he ate. In between stories he'd turn and personally feed the big blue giant from his own plate, which made the blonde want to gag. Naruto had learned many things about the couple that night that he'd never wanted to know.

Kisame liked raw squid, the two of them had met at Aishiteru Academy and Itachi had just barely graduated because he'd gotten too old while waiting for Kisame to propose to him, and the last thing he'd been told, was every small detail about Itachi's sex life.

This was the part he hadn't wanted to hear. The rest of it had been meaningless matter, but this was just disturbing and as much as he tried to ignore it, he couldn't.

It wasn't long before he ended up pushing away his plate and one look from him to Sasuke had the younger Uchiha calling for the maids to take away their plates.

The two of them were ushered out of the dining room without Itachi or Kisame even noticing they'd left.

The two of them walked in silence until Sasuke had led them up to the room Naruto had claimed as his earlier that day. The raven had been kind enough to let the blonde choose which of the open rooms he'd wanted and the maids had quickly run a check on it to make sure it was okay for him.

It was a kindness that Naruto hadn't expected to get. Sasuke had been nothing but patient with the blonde and it was confusing the boy. This was not the Sasuke he was used to, but he couldn't exactly say he didn't like the new change.

Naruto secretly enjoyed all the pampering he'd been given.

"I'm sorry you had to hear all that. My Aniki is very open about his feelings for Kisame and he often tells our family things we don't wish to hear. They usually don't stay here that often, but Itachi heard I was inviting someone to stay for Uke-shu and he wanted to meet them, so he planned to stay for the first few days."

Naruto wasn't sure what to say to this so he kept quiet while Sasuke stood in the doorway to his room.

"Again, I'm sorry he made you feel so awkward. I'll ask the maids to send a plate of food up for you if you're still hungry. I know you didn't eat much."

"Thank you. I am still a little hungry."

Naruto confessed, running his hand through the hair on the back of his head nervously. He felt a little guilty for asking Sasuke for something like this but he was still starving and today had been such an exhausting day, it'd depleted most of his energy.

Sasuke bowed and disappeared down the hall, leaving Naruto standing there staring after him in confusion before he returned five minutes later with the promise of a maid bringing him food from the kitchens.

"Zabuza, Neji, and I are a little busy with our studies tomorrow, but my mother has promised she'll take good care of you while I'm out and I'll be back for dinner so I hope you'll sit with me again."

There was some sort of formality in the statement and Naruto was pretty sure he had no idea how to answer it without being offensive, but for once, he actually said the right thing.

"I'll be fine. I'm sure spending the day with her will be fun so you have no reason to worry. I'd be happy to sit with you during dinner tomorrow."

This was Naruto trying to speak like a rich boy or at least sound as smooth as Sasuke always sounded. To him it didn't come out half bad, but to Sasuke it probably sounded like he was making fun of the other boy. If that was true though, Sasuke didn't show it.

"Good. Sleep well…Dobe."

Naruto's face went red as Sasuke came up from a bow with a small smirk on his face. He'd been acting so nice too, but now they were back to name calling and Naruto's quick temper flared a little.

"Yeah, good night to you too Teme!"

Naruto growled, watching Sasuke smirk at him over his shoulder before continuing off down the hall toward his room.

The maid came by with Naruto's food moments later. She quickly showed him the closet and told him he could put his clothes in there if he wished to, but not to feel like he had to. She also showed him where the towels were and started a warm bath for him.

He thanked the girl when she left and immediately scarfed down all the food she'd brought with her. The bath felt like liquid sunshine on his skin and it smelled even better, he'd watched the maid put a few fruity smelling salts in the water before and had secretly wondered why she'd chosen the fruity one instead of the flowery one, which had both been sitting in the bathroom cupboard.

Naruto vaguely wondered if Sasuke liked the fruit one better and immediately blushed a deep crimson at the thought before hiding his face under the water. He'd have to test that theory out on his own later. There was no way he'd be brave enough to ask Sasuke himself.

X

Haku had had an amazing time so far. He'd been shown into the house and had immediately been dragged off by a really excited woman who seemed to be the same height he was. Zabuza had introduced him to his mother briefly before the pretty woman had run off with him, leaving Zabuza standing in the entry way with Haku's bags and no Haku.

Her name was Keiko Momochi, but Haku had been instructed to call her Keiko-chan or Kaa-chan, which Haku knew perfectly well, meant mother.

"I'm so excited. I never thought my little boy would actually bring anyone home. He's never showed any interest in relationships before and this is the first time I've ever seen him willing enough to bring anyone home. Oh, I'm so happy you're here! And what a pretty thing you are too. You must let me dress you up and do your hair. It'll be so much fun."

Haku hadn't had the heart to tell her no, and he hadn't really wanted to anyway.

So for the rest of the day, the woman had showed him around the house, showed him his room, and then proceeded to dress him up in one of her kimono.

Haku had never gotten the chance to wear something so beautiful before, and Keiko had told him all about how disappointed she'd been at not being able to have a daughter, Zabuza had been the only child she'd been able to carry to full term, and only because he'd been so strong to begin with.

"But now I have you!"

Haku had smiled at that. He was glad that Zabuza's mother liked him so much, it made him feel warm inside and like he belonged somewhere. She was the mother he'd never had and he could easily grow too used to this feeling.

When Keiko had finished dressing him up and had put his hair up with a few ornate pins, she'd turned him to look at himself in the mirror. The kimono was made up of light beige material and had cherry blossoms in all different shades of pink lining the bottom and the sleeves of the kimono. The under layers were a darker caramel colored brown that Keiko said would match his eyes. She'd given him tabi socks to wear beneath the Kimono and his hair had been left in a messy bun on the back of his head with a few extra strands left down to frame his face. The cherry blossom pins had been stuck into the bun at random to match. Overall it'd been a beautiful sight and Zabuza had stared at him all through dinner. Even Zabuza's father had been surprised, but after awhile he'd just shaken his head and smiled at his wife's antics and his son's obvious appreciation.

Haku had barely gotten to spend any time with Zabuza that day though, and he felt bad about that. After dinner had ended, the two of them had gone walking around the small pond and garden which were set in the middle of the house in the courtyard. Zabuza had barely gotten the chance to tell Haku that he looked beautiful before his mother had shown up again and dragged Haku away for the second time.

By the time he'd gotten the kimono off, changed into a sleeping kimono, and gotten his hair undone, the rest of the family had gone to bed.

Haku had been trying to fall asleep in his room for a good hour now, but even after he'd gotten up twenty minutes ago to braid his hair, which usually made him sleepy, he still wasn't able to get any rest.

It wasn't that the traditional floor futon he'd been given wasn't comfortable, it really was, he just couldn't sleep. His head was even beginning to ache from the effort it was taking. When Haku had finally had enough of trying to fall asleep and not succeeding he slipped out of his room and down the hall to the paper door that divided Zabuza's room from the rest of the house. He peeked inside to make sure the other boy was asleep, and proceeded to spend the next five minutes quietly dragging his futon into the other boy's room.

When he had it set down as close as he could get it to Zabuza's futon, he laid down and covered himself with the covers and reached over to where the taller boy slept, finding his bigger hand and pulling it up to his face.

Zabuza's fingers were slightly rough and had calluses all over them from all the training he'd done over the years. Haku pressed the fingers gently to the side of his face and cuddled against the boy's arm before falling into peaceful sleep with a content smile on his lips.

* * *

Sorry it took me so long to get another chapter up... I'm lazy... I'll admit it.

I don't write these chapters before hand like some other writers...

This one is pretty long though so I hope you like it!

-Himitsu


	5. Chapter 5

**The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy**

**-Book 2, Chapter 5-**

Pairings: HakuXZabuza, GaaraXNeji, NarutoXSasuke

* * *

Zabuza shifted a little and yawned as the early morning sunlight slipped in through the paper walls of his room to wake him up. He felt well rested and, oddly, not at all willing to get up and start his morning training. The taller man was usually more than happy to start his day with an hour or two of training before he went off to do whatever he wanted, but today he didn't want to so much as stretch.

This was a strange occurrence for someone like Zabuza, but it wasn't until he opened his eyes that he realized why he was feeling so lazy.

The smaller boy lying next to him was to blame for this. Haku had managed to quietly sneak into his room during the night without waking him, and while his futon was in the room too, the boy was no longer in it. He'd managed to crawl over and curl up against Zabuza's side like a tiny kitten, rolled up into a ball under the thick blankets. Haku had a hold of one of his hands as well, and was nuzzling his face against it.

Really, the older man could care less about whose fault it was, the boy was so peaceful and beautiful sleeping next to him that Zabuza didn't notice the hour that had slipped by as he watched Haku's pretty face and listened to his light breathing.

However he did have to get up sometime that day and even though it was still early, if he stayed in bed any longer he'd feel like he'd wasted the day. He had things he needed to take care of and wanted to get them done as soon as possible so he could come back and be with the boy he'd invited over.

Today counted as the second day of Haku's stay and Zabuza didn't want to waste more time then necessary with the mandatory work he'd been given, helping out at his father's dojo even farther away from the city than their houses were.

Zabuza sighed to himself and very carefully extracted his hand, and then his body, from Haku's grip. He pulled out a pair of loose white pants and his matching jacket that had their family name and dojo stitched to the back of it.

The youngest Momochi really did not want to go to work today. Usually he didn't mind it, but seeing as he had Haku there, he wanted to ditch work and join the mothers and Uke on the planned clothing hunt for the Uchiha Charity Dinner. However, their mothers had planned this day on purpose because they knew each of the Seme boys would be busy. Zabuza needed to get a hold of himself and shake off this lethargic feeling. He knew that if he was truly serious about keeping Haku around, he'd have to work even harder on perfecting the martial arts. It was tradition for the Momochi men to become masters of the fighting arts in order to be strong enough to protect their future families. Zabuza had always taken this too the extreme. He knew that if anyone was worthy enough of his attention, he'd be the type of man to devote his life to them and here was his opportunity to prove it. That didn't mean he was any happier about spending that much less time with Haku though.

Zabuza had no choice but to let his mother take the boy away from him again. He was sure Haku would have fun, but he couldn't help being a little mad at his mother for hogging him.

Slipping quietly into his uniform, not bothering with an undershirt, Zabuza covered Haku the rest of the way with their shared blankets before leaving the room and silently closing the door behind him.

X

Naruto wasn't sure how his morning was going so far. He really couldn't have said if the new additions to their breakfast party made him feel any more comfortable or not.

There were a total of four people at the breakfast table with him that morning. Itachi was one, although his boyfriend Kisame was absent (much to Naruto's relief) and he was another. The two other people were Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto, the parents of the Teme.

The two people who sat across from him seemed to be nothing but polar opposites, just like he and Sasuke were. Fugaku was a stern looking man with the entirety of his family and household walking quietly and quickly around him. Itachi had been completely silent unless spoken to about work, all breakfast. Naruto hadn't thought the older boy had any manners at all. But around Fugaku everyone seemed to become the utmost of gentlemen.

The first thing that Fugaku had told him, much to Naruto's resentment, was that he didn't approve of blondes.

It was a directly given statement that had Naruto hating the man from the very beginning.

Which was why he didn't understand how Mikoto could stay married to him. She was a beautiful woman, and it was obvious that both her sons had taken after her in looks, even if not in temperament. She was a sunny beauty with a disposition much like Haku's. The quiet and super nice kind of person.

She'd gone so far as to slap Fugaku's arm after his statement at the breakfast table. Then she'd proceeded to tell Naruto that her husband could be an ass, but not to mind him because she thought that he was just darling.

They obviously didn't get blondes in the house much and according to Fugaku, he was an eyesore, while Mikoto thought he was a breath of pretty fresh air.

Naruto had to admit, sadly, that if he and Sasuke ever made it together, they would be exactly like these two. This was one of those uncomfortable revelations that had Naruto staying rather quiet all throughout breakfast, just watching the pair across from him.

The fact that Sasuke wasn't there to monitor his father's disapproving looks had Naruto wishing he'd stayed in bed a little longer. If he'd stayed sleeping, then Fugaku would have left for work without meeting him and the blonde would be all the better for it.

"Naruto honey?"

Naruto looked up at Mikoto's words.

"How would you feel about going to see Sasuke up at the hospital this afternoon? He didn't take any lunch with him this morning."

The blonde had recently learned that Sasuke was interning at the Konoha hospital back in the city, aspiring to be a doctor. That wasn't what Mother Uchiha was getting at though. She was trying to get him to go see Sasuke at lunch like any good Uke would do for their Seme.

Naruto would have refused had he had any less of a heart. In his position, Gaara would have certainly balked by now and flat out refused, with added cussing.

"Sure. What do you think he would want for lunch?"

Naruto was such a sap. He couldn't refuse the nice lady, he really was an Uke.

"I was thinking we could pick something up for him while we're out shopping with the new little Hyuuga and Momochi boys. We'll probably have to go for Japanese or Asian food of some kind though so I hope you like it. That's all Sasuke eats, claims it's the healthiest type of cuisine."

That sounded a lot like the Sasuke he knew. The Teme version.

"Would they have ramen there do you think?"

"Of course they would!"

"Then it sounds like a great idea!"

"Good! Oh what a sweet thing you are! You're so bright and energetic. I hope one day you'll be able to give my little boy his light back, since his father has so obviously drained it from him and turned him into a heartless robot."

Naruto would have burst out laughing at the accusing look Mother Uchiha threw at Father Uchiha.

Fugaku only ignored his wife though, getting up from the table and stating he'd be working late and would miss dinner.

"Suit yourself honey."

Mikoto said blandly, blatantly ignoring the man as he frowned and left the room. So maybe Naruto and Sasuke would be a little bit closer than they seemed to be. There was always hope, since it didn't look like Mikoto was going to let him end up with anyone but her youngest "baby".

"So Mother, Naruto, I think it's time we got going as well. You know the Hyuuga's are sticklers about being on time. Wouldn't want to upset the neighbors by being late now would we?"

Itachi got up from the table and motioned for one of the maids to begin cleaning up the table after them, not bothering to wait for a response before he linked his arm with Naruto's and began dragging him out of the room. Mikoto laughing lightly as she followed behind them, slipping on her shoes at the door and donning her purse.

X

Gaara had never, in his life, set foot in a mall like this one and he wasn't sure he'd want to ever again.

There were stores stretching as far as the eye could see, and not one of them carried anything less expensive than a fifty dollar pair of nice looking leather shoes. The place smelled like money, and incase the huge, gold chandelier hanging over the spiral staircase in the center of the mall wasn't a good enough indication, they had just as much money as they smelled of.

There was a food court near this center staircase that had Italian bistros, small cafés, French cuisine and Asia's finest foods all mixed up in the slew of restaurants that surrounded the cushy little alcove of booths and overly polished tables.

The small party he was in had walked passed about a dozen perfume and makeup salons that had the place smelling so feminine it made Gaara want to gag. The pretending to be masculine cologne was just as bad when it hit the redhead's nose as they passed a few men's stores.

These weren't any of the places that the party was planning to visit though. No, the places he, Mikoto, Itachi, Naruto, Hanabi, Keiko, and Haku were going to, were merely clothing stores. These stores were more of a rip off than the ones in any other mall he'd ever been in, but considering Hiashi Hyuuga had left an extensive amount of money for him to spend, with his little chaperone Hanabi, Gaara knew better than to complain. He was supposed to pick something really nice and impressive to wear in front of all the rich and stupid guests he'd be meeting, so he was going to do his best and humor the head Hyuuga.

One of the first shops they stopped at was a men's clothing store for people who just didn't like seeing themselves in a tux, but wanted to look just as smart. In Gaara's opinion, it was a store for Uke men who wouldn't stoop low enough to cross dress, although the clothes inside were just as gay looking, if not more so.

This was wear he and Naruto would be spending their time.

Mikoto, Itachi, and Hanabi had immediately gone off to explore the racks of fine cloth and highly starched materials.

Gaara knew next to nothing about shopping for clothes that matched his complexion. This was the reason Hanabi, the 11 year old Hyuuga heiress, had decided to come along and make sure he didn't mess anything up. Hiashi had explained to them both that morning, that they were only to come back with something they BOTH had agreed on.

The redhead was just happy he'd gotten Hanabi as a chaperone instead of Hinata. The older girl had been nothing but a royal pain in the ass since Gaara had arrived and would have certainly bought him the ugliest outfit she could find.

Three guesses why she'd become nothing but evil.

Gaara knew exactly why, and he was willing to put up with the older girl's crap because of it. It was because Naruto had accepted Sasuke's invitation instead of her's. And that meant that Gaara, being Naruto's friend, was going to pay for it. In truth though, the redhead hadn't even known she'd given the blonde a letter.

Not that he cared. He would have discouraged Naruto from accepting it anyway. He'd much sooner approve of the stoic Uchiha than the vindictive Hyuuga.

The girl had issues.

Hanabi was a different story. She was like the mother Neji had never had, and probably never wanted. She was around eight years his junior, since Gaara didn't know exactly how old Neji really was, but she acted like she was much older.

The young girl spent all her time lecturing her cousin on the importance of certain things and the way to do certain tasks, like Neji wasn't capable of doing things on his own. She frequently tried to cook dinner for all of them as well as anything else Neji asked for, and even though she burned things more often than not, she wasn't bad at it.

Today, she felt it was her duty to dress Neji's date up so that he would look as nice as possibly for the older brunette.

Gaara wasn't sure he liked having things decided for him, but since Neji treated her like his favorite little sister and humored her whenever she started lecturing or scolding, the redhead decided to play nice. For now.

Gaara watched as Naruto was dragged off by Itachi and Mikoto. Both the Uchiha looked like they were having the time of their lives measuring up the blonde and throwing clothes at him to try on.

Naruto didn't look like he was enjoying the Uchiha barrage of clothing, but he'd be enjoying himself just as much soon enough. Other people's moods had such a profound affect on the blonde that Gaara was amazed the boy hadn't started picking out handfuls of clothes as well and started modeling them.

Hanabi had a much more subdued approach. She looked over Gaara, sizing him up, and then told him to go entertain himself while she picked things out.

Gaara could live with that.

So instead of helping out with the shopping, Gaara went to talk to Haku and Zabuza's mother.

"Aren't you getting anything here?"

Haku shook his head and smiled at Gaara as Keiko giggled at the two of them, obviously enjoying the fact that the redhead was clueless as to her plans.

"I'm not so sure where we're going yet. Momochi-san-"

"Kaa-chan or Keiko-chan dear."

Keiko interjected. Haku just smiled and continued on with his sentence.

"Keiko-chan has decided she's going to keep it a secret from me until you guys have finished up here."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. So do you know what you're going to get?"

"I've been banned from helping."

"What do you mean?"

Gaara shrugged his shoulders.

"Hanabi has decided she knows what Neji will like best on me. Or so she said. I'm just letting her do what she wants."

"That's very passive of you Gaara."

Haku giggled and, even though Keiko didn't know him at all, she giggled too.

"So what. Last thing I need is to pick a fight with Hanabi and have the wrath of both Neji, the doting older brother figure, and Hiashi, the yes man father, raining down on me. I'm just looking out for myself."

"I see."

Gaara decided that was enough talking to Haku. The boy could only laugh at him for so long before the redhead got the urge to smack him. Not that he ever would, but he still wanted to sometimes.

Gaara turned around and started wandering through the circular racks of clothing, inspecting random things and then quickly forgetting about them.

"Are you done doing nothing?"

The redhead glared before putting his neutral, yet slightly bored, face on. Preparing to face the youngest Hyuuga.

"Why?"

"We're getting these and I need you to try them on to make sure I picked the right size."

When Gaara just stood there, Hanabi made a vastly irritated noise before pulling him inside one of the biggest changing stalls near the far side of the room. She proceeded to hang up the clothes on a poll stuck in the wall and from there, sit on the little built in bench in one corner of the stall. But she didn't leave.

"I'm not changing with you in here to watch."

"Unless you feel like leaving the stall and modeling what I chose in front of your friends, you'll do as I say. Now change."

Gaara could have killed the girl with the vicious glare that followed, but since he didn't have super human glaring ability, it didn't work, and he did as he was told.

X

By the time Naruto had finished changing into all the outfits he and the Uchihas had put together, it was nearly noon. They'd been shopping in that store as well as the shoe store for about two and a half hours and as funny as it was to see, Gaara looked like he was about ready to fall over and not get up again.

The kid looked bored beyond reason.

That was about the point where everyone split up and went their own ways. Gaara claimed to be dying and it irritated Hanabi so badly, she announced that she was taking him home.

Keiko pretty much ran off with Haku telling them they were going to a different store to shop and although Naruto wanted to see what the boy would be wearing before the actual charity dinner, they had plans of their own.

It was lunch time and Sasuke still needed to be fed. According to Mother Uchiha.

This led them to the expensive food court where Naruto could smell so many delicious scents, he nearly forgot he'd already asked for ramen. If everything here smelled that good, he was pretty sure his ramen was going to be to die for. He couldn't wait.

"Okay so Naruto wants ramen. Anything else look good to you sweetie?"

"Well yeah, but I won't be able to eat anything else if the ramen bowls are really that big."

Naruto had watched someone walk away with one as they were standing in line. He'd never seen a bowl that big that people actually ate out of. Mikoto just laughed at that.

"Alright. Tachi honey, what would you like?"

"Two spring rolls, a serving of rice and some of those noodles I think."

Mikoto ordered for the two boys and then proceeded to order some sort of Asian curry and salad for Sasuke. She stayed quiet for a little longer in thought before ordering the same salad for herself with spicy chicken added to it.

When their food was done, Naruto helped her carry it to the table Itachi had found before the three of them began hungrily eating their meals. It was so much better than Naruto had originally thought it was going to be, but since his and Sasuke's meals would have cost around the same amount as the blondes monthly rent, it had better be good.

"Tachi sweetie, call your brother and tell him we're coming by to give him lunch."

"Are you sure that's wise mother? You know Sasuke won't trust it coming from me."

"Fine, I'll call him."

Mikoto fished her phone out of her bag and proceeded to have a talk with Sasuke that was full of giggling and hospital gossip. Naruto wondered if she'd actually called the Teme, but then remembered that there were many sides to Sasuke he'd never seen before. And this was one of them. He'd never seen the boy and his mother together.

Maybe he really was human on the inside. Way on the inside.

Mikoto hung up the phone and smiled widely at the two boy at the table with her.

"He'll be waiting by the doors for us! I'll have to have you run it in real quick though Naruto honey. I've got a few things I need to get done at home before dinner tonight."

"Oh, Okay."

It took nearly no time at all to get to the hospital, and they'd ended up walking there because it was across the street and Mikoto didn't see the need to call their car over when it was already waiting for them by the hospital.

Mikoto and Itachi smiled at each other before arming Naruto with the Styrofoam box holding Sasuke's food in it.

The look they'd given each other wasn't exactly mischievous but it was close enough to make the blonde a little uneasy. He knew why they'd given each other that look the minute he'd been pushed in through the doors. As soon as he was inside and in view of the front desk the two Uchiha left him standing by himself and just disappeared.

They were leaving him alone with Sasuke and probably spying on him too.

He sort of expected this however. It was something he could see them doing.

Naruto walked up to the front desk and tried to forget the nosy Uchihas. He spotted Sasuke all too quickly and didn't even have to try to forget, he just did. Focusing on the patronizing Teme smirking in his direction.

"Bring me lunch Dobe?"

Sasuke smirked, leaning one elbow against the reception desk, looking as cool as ever.

"Yes, here. Don't you dare tease me for it either."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

The Teme smirked and took the box from Naruto, smiling at what his mother had ordered for him. She knew what he liked, that was for sure. He and his mother had a lot of the same tastes when it came to food, among other things.

"So, what kind of doctor are you anyway?"

Naruto asked, curious as to why Sasuke had the cookie monster stitched onto one of the pant legs of his scrubs.

"I'm training to be a pediatrician."

"You mean working with sick kids? Is that even possible for you?"

"Yes, I'm surprised you know the meaning of such a big word."

"Oh, shut up Teme!"

Naruto growled, stomping out the front doors, leaving Sasuke to smile after him.

X

Gaara and Hanabi arrived home nearly three hours after leaving the rich people mall. The trip had been good for the two of them, and now they had a much closer friendship than before.

Gaara had introduced Hanabi to the joys of an actual, normal teenage kid, mall. He'd asked the driver to stop them on the way home and then he'd proceeded to drag the girl with him through lingerie shops, magic stores, and gothic clothing stores. They were the only thing interesting about going to a mall, and so he'd purposely only let Hanabi see those stores.

He was a little surprised, but once prompted, Hanabi's dare devil side just took over. The redhead definitely liked that side of her a lot better.

They'd proceeded to take their left over money and spend it all on any outrageous clothing they deemed interesting enough to wear.

The gothic clothing store had Gaara coming out with a really tight pair of leather pants and knee high boots with laces all the way up the front. Hanabi had bought a religiously insulting cross and a corset. Any one else would have died seeing it not to mention all the other sets of underwear, bras, and briefs (which she bought for Gaara) that were now sitting in their multitude of shopping bags. Hanabi had even broken down and bought a moon cycle counting watch from the magic store.

Hanabi giggled slightly as they walked through the front doors of the house.

"So if I wear it around the house, will you whistle and tell me I'm hot in it?"

Gaara knew they were talking about the corset.

"Only if you tell me how fine I look in my pants."

"Deal!"

She giggled, running passed a very confused looking Neji who was coming down the stairs to greet them. Gaara heard a door shut upstairs and knew Hanabi would be dumping everything out and splitting up their clothes.

"If she wears what now?"

"That's a secret."

"Gaara..."

"Just don't die if she shows you what we bought."

Gaara climbed up the stairs, going straight to Hanabi's room to help her pack up his clothes. Neji was definitely worried about this. There was something going on between the two of them and if the redhead was involved, he probably wasn't going to approve of the clothing they'd bought.

X

All the boys had had a really long day, but by some cruel twist of fate, Naruto was the only one being woken up at two in the morning from his much needed rest.

He wasn't sure what woke him at first, but when he rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, he heard it again. Someone was moaning in the room next door. Naruto didn't want to know what that meant. He just wanted to go back to sleep, but that choice was also taken from him when the head board of a bed in the next room started slamming against the wall by his head.

Followed by a few very loud, and very obvious screams of pleasure.

If the name spilling off the panting lips next door in the form of whines and moans didn't give it away, the growling and slight laughter did.

"OH! SAME..."

"Think I found it... that special spot."

"Oh god! YES... yes... you've found it. Aaaah!... Hit it again, harder."

"As my lovely Ita wishes."

Naruto was not the least bit thrilled to hear this sort of conversation. Especially since it didn't end, and the noises kept going.

The blonde, feeling sick to his stomach, immediately got up out of bed and left the room. He was going to make Sasuke take him in for the night. Even if he had to sleep on the floor, he wasn't going to stay in his own room, but he also didn't want to try and find a new room either. Afraid of what else he might walk in on.

Naruto quietly wandered down the hall to one of the far end rooms he'd seen Sasuke disappear into before.

"Sasuke?"

The blonde whispered, seeing a sleeping lump in the dark as he slipped through the door and into the completely dark room.

There wasn't much moon light to see by, but there was a little, peeking through the drapes hanging from the far window.

"Sasuke?"

Naruto closed the door behind him and waited, slowly taking a few nervous steps toward the bed.

"Mm?"

The boy sat up across the room and looked about ready to drop back down into sleep again.

"Can I sleep with you?"

"Excuse me?"

Even half asleep the boy was too proper.

"Your brother and his boy toy are going at it next door to my room. I can't stand it. It's making me sick, hearing all their moaning and grunting. Not to mention their headboard keeps slamming into the wall above my head. Please?"

Sasuke yawned and fell back down on his bed, sprawled out untidily. Naruto thought the boy had fallen asleep again, but the boy shifted a little, very obviously pulling back the covers on the far side of the bed.

"Come on then Dobe."

Naruto decided not to mention the insulting name, and he quickly finished his walk across the room, slipping under the light blanket on Sasuke's bed.

"Thank You, Sasuke."

"Don't worry... about it."

Sasuke stretched in the middle of his sentence, the second half coming out much more groggily than the first part.

Naruto smiled, watching as Sasuke fell back asleep, taking up most of the bed next to him. His hair was sticking up at odd angles and one of his pant legs was hiked up to his thigh. He looked so completely normal, that Naruto couldn't help but smile and reach over to ruffle the already messed up hair.

This was one of those new sides to Sasuke that, in all truth, Naruto liked very much.

* * *

Thank You for waiting for this chapter... It's alot longer than my other ones so I hope you enjoy it!

For those of you who are still confused, each Aishiteru Academy book will have a different number of chapters...

Also, I just noticed that my dividing lines for each section keep disappearing... Sorry if it's been a difficult read, I'll go back and change things, I hope this helps...

-Himitsu


	6. Chapter 6

**The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy**

**-Book 2, Chapter 6-**

Pairings: NarutoXSasuke, GaaraXNeji, HakuXZabuza

_Note: This story is NOT on haitus. I've just been unmotivated. I won't leave any of my stories unfinished so don't worry._

* * *

Naruto hadn't woken up so comfortably in a long time. The memory of climbing into bed with Sasuke flitted slowly across his mind, making him smile on the inside at the thought of just how human and adorable the Teme had looked sleeping. Not that Naruto would ever dare tell the boy to his face, but it was nice to at least have the memory of it for later.

Naruto was so busy waking up slowly and reminiscing that he hadn't noticed Sasuke also sitting up next to him. His hair still spiked everywhere and his eyes still glossed over from sleep. The blonde might have cooed at the normality of it if he'd seen it, but soon enough he'd be thinking about something far cuter than just the way Sasuke slept.

Sasuke sat up slowly, the covers slipping down to his waist as he rubbed his eyes with one hand, his thumb and forefinger pressing almost hard enough to make his eyes hurt. He did this every morning because it proved to wake him faster. Sadly, Sasuke was cursed with the gene that made it extremely hard to get up every morning after sleeping so deeply the night before in a warm bed. He had to force himself up and usually it worked, followed by a nice cold shower. His showers washed away the fuzz in his mind from sleep and never failed to make him cold and irritable. He knew himself better than to use warm water though. He'd fallen right back asleep doing that once. Itachi had been the one to find him and it'd scared the man to see his brother almost drowning.

Today was different though. Today, Sasuke felt like getting out of bed was going to be an impossible task.

He already felt much warmer than he usually did, and when he looked around to see what was different, he noticed blonde hair splayed out over the pillow next to him, connected to a bundle of blankets.

When had Naruto snuck in to sleep with him? And why?

Sasuke gave the unmoving lump a confused look before vaguely remembering the blonde standing in his doorway the night before. Sasuke couldn't remember much other than that and was surprised he remembered at all, but instead of waking the blonde, he leaned over and slowly pulled the blankets back from the boy's face.

The boy was beautiful. Sasuke's opinion on that hadn't changed even after he'd spent all this time with the boy. At first the beauty had been overshadowed by the overly obnoxious and bright personality, but then he got used to it and realized he wouldn't wish for Naruto to be any other way. No other personality would really fit the energetic boy. The only thing Sasuke wished was that he could tell the boy all that to his face, not just keep it to himself. It might even make Naruto hate him less, because in Sasuke's eyes, the blonde boy really couldn't seem to stand him.

Sasuke sighed audibly. He suddenly had the deep urge to lean over and try something most teenage boys would tease him for. He wanted to kiss Naruto and see if he could do it without waking the boy. It was the move of a shy boy to scared to try it when the other person was actually conscious.

So the raven haired boy did exactly that. He leaned over Naruto, making sure he didn't get to close to the other, and lightly pressed his lips to the sleeping boy's beneath him. This helped him pull away and shove himself out of bed. He didn't want to be there when the blonde woke up and started accusing him of being a pervert or something as equally embarrassing. Sasuke quickly moved away from the bed and shut himself in the bathroom, turning on the shower water and quickly undressing before nearly throwing himself inside. Why had he done that? Honestly?

Sasuke had no idea, but he was going to try and reign in his urges next time. This was too new for him and he felt stupid for having done it. Actually wanting things like that with someone else was going to be a need he'd have to get used to.

X

Naruto heard the feet crossing the carpeted floor and a door quickly shut across the room followed by the sound of water running. He couldn't have been more stunned. The minute he'd been pulled out of his thoughts, those lips had been on his and he'd frozen in place. Then Sasuke was gone.

Naruto dared to open his bright blue, surprised eyes. Sasuke had been so unexpected lately it was throwing the poor blonde for a loop. But he knew he'd never forget how cute Sasuke had just been kissing him like that. Not in a million years.

The blonde waited a few more minutes before getting up and knocking loudly on the bathroom door. Hoping he'd waited long enough so that Sasuke was convinced the blonde had been asleep through all of it.

"I'm going to head downstairs Teme! Thanks for letting me crash in your room!"

He yelled through the door at the raven, making his voice sound slurred from groggy sleep, before heading out of the room in nothing but his pajamas, not bothering to make himself anymore presentable then he already was. At least he had a shirt on. Naruto smiled and blushed to himself as he let go of the door handle, a certain kiss still fresh in his mind.

X

Mikoto had noticed something different the minute Naruto had walked into the dining room with a grin on his face he couldn't seem to hold in. She'd immediately headed over to him and asked, hoping he'd feel comfortable enough to tell her.

"Is something wrong Naruto honey?"

Naruto couldn't help but blush when the female Uchiha asked him that. He was smiling like an idiot so of course nothing was actually 'wrong', but he knew what she was getting at. The blonde wondered vaguely if he should keep the incident to himself, but instead he went ahead and told Mikoto all about what had just happened. He had to tell someone and he'd rather tell her than Itachi.

He made the woman swear to secrecy before he said anything, he didn't want Sasuke to find out and be too embarrassed to ever do it again. Naruto couldn't help hoping he'd get a few more morning kisses from the boy over the rest of the week, he'd even make up more excuses to sneak into the boy's room if Sasuke didn't automatically let him in.

"It's something that happened this morning, just a few minutes ago."

Naruto said quietly, a blush staining his cheeks as his grin grew.

"Sasuke kissed me when he thought I was sleeping."

Mikoto watched the boy's face as he shared the secret and couldn't help but giggling and smiling herself, happy that her little boy seemed to be developing a soft spot for her favorite little blonde. The two of them talked a little more about it before anyone else showed up for breakfast and decided to keep this little secret about Sasuke's affection between them. For the rest of the morning the two of them were closer than ever, giggling to each other and whispering quietly back and forth. Much to the chagrin of the rest of the Uchiha family.

Sasuke couldn't help but notice this when he'd finally calmed himself down and gotten his indifferent mask back in place. Walking into the dining room to see the two laughing together and his brother looking miffed at being left out had been strange enough. Then he'd had to sit between his father and irritated brother while eating, something that was not wholly pleasant. Itachi had even gone so far as to hiss at Sasuke, hoping for answers.

"What is the meaning of this? Did you do something embarrassing that only the two of them know about?"

Sasuke of course, had merely shaken his head and put on a fake clueless face. Well it wasn't all fake. He had embarrassed himself, but that couldn't have been what the two of them were talking about. It just couldn't. The raven was certain Naruto had still been asleep.

Sasuke couldn't have been more relieved when the plates were removed from the table a few minutes later and he was free to get up and get on with his day.

Today he, Zabuza, and Neji were going off to pick up their clothes for the charity ball that night. There was so much to do in order to finish off the preparations for that night that the three boys wouldn't have any time until after the event to really relax.

Sasuke needed more than ever right now, to be out with his friends and not in the house with the blonde he'd unwillingly let himself fall for. So when his friends, their mothers, Hanabi, and their new house mates showed up, he was all too happy to pull Neji and Zabuza right out the front door and off to the cars with him before they had a chance to remove their shoes. He gave them no time to explain themselves to the others or demand an explanation from him.

He'd tell them later.

X

Gaara watched curiously as a red faced Sasuke walked right passed them out the front door as they were walking in, dragging Neji and Zabuza out with him. There was obviously something wrong with the boy and the redhead was certain it was Naruto's fault. Not that he minded seeing the Uchiha flustered, it was certainly amusing.

As Haku and the mothers watched confusedly, Gaara gave a questioning look to the blonde who didn't seem all that surprised by Sasuke's reaction. Naruto just looked at him, blushed, and shook his head. Gaara wasn't used to the blatant refusal of information from Naruto, but he let it slide with a small glare as Hanabi took his arm and proceeded to pull him further into the house and away from the commotion at the door.

Hanabi didn't look like anything out of the ordinary had happened, so Gaara just followed her lead and the two of them waited for the others in a large sitting room that had three cream colored couches, a piano, and four side tables filling up the interior.

"Why are we here Hanabi?"

Gaara hadn't been informed of anything until after breakfast that morning. The girl had merely told him to get dressed and meet her downstairs. When he'd done as she asked, Hanabi had proceeded to escort both him and Neji to the Uchiha house just a block or so up the road in the gated off community.

"We're here to talk about the Charity event tonight."

"Haven't we already gone over that?"

Hanabi rolled her eyes and looked at Gaara with a bored expression.

"Of course we have, but not in detail. They want to make sure you guys know everything about the event and what you'll be expected to do when you're there."

"What do you mean expected to do? I have to do something?"

Hanabi sighed, shaking her head like Gaara was a child too stupid to understand what she was trying to explain, before she leaned back into the couch they had picked and went silent. Apparently there was no getting any more out of her. He'd just have to wait and find out what he'd be forced to do from someone else.

That was about the time the others decided to join them.

Mikoto Uchiha pulled Naruto down onto the couch opposite them and Keiko led Haku to the only other open one, getting settled before starting the conversation Gaara had been impatiently waiting for the last few minutes.

"Sorry for the wait, so Mikoto, what exactly are you going to make these sweet boy's do at this event?"

Keiko sounded almost accusing and pulled Haku's head against her chest in a protective gesture. Much to the smaller boy's displeasure and embarrassment.

"Nothing too horrible, I promise. So many families are going to be there I thought it'd be nice if these three stayed with our boys for the night and introduced themselves to some of the higher ups. It'll keep some of those suck ups from sending their daughters after our boys and set them up as taken."

Gaara didn't like that idea, he scowled and noticed he wasn't the only surprised one. Hanabi remained unfazed beside him, but Naruto practically fell off the couch in front of them. Haku seemed content hiding his blushing face and staring at the floor.

None of them got the chance to protest however as Keiko nodded thoughtfully and cut all of them off.

"That's actually a nice idea. Oh Haku sweety! You'll look so cute together, I can see it now..."

Gaara watched the woman trail off and get lost in her own world as Haku hid his head behind his hands. It was obvious that the small boy didn't mind the idea, but was too embarrassed to think about the implications of hanging off of Zabuza's arm all night. Gaara however, refused to stoop so low as to do that. Neji would have to earn that honor and they hadn't spent enough time together for that to happen. Naruto was much more vocal about his thoughts however.

"You mean I have to tell people that I'm with the Teme? Has he already agreed to this?"

"Of course not Naruto honey, but he won't refuse. Now sit down and let me finish."

Naruto pouted and plopped back down on the couch with his mother-for-a-week and crossed his arms defiantly. Mikoto just pressed on, ignoring his little fit with the practiced ease of years worth of training to ignore her sons' tantrums.

"Besides meeting a few people and introducing yourselves, there will be dinner and dancing as well as a few informative pieces out for display around the ball room about adoptions and things pertaining to them. I think one of the companies we're raising money for will even have a few books out of children wishing for good homes. It'll be a busy night but I'm sure you'll all have fun."

At some point, tea had shown up and Hanabi was drinking hers quietly next to him. Gaara sighed and grabbed a cup too before downing the hot liquid with as little manners as he would normally allow himself, purposely being rebellious. When he was done though, Hanabi was watching him with a smirk that clearly stated she could tell Gaara was throwing his own sort of fit like Naruto had, albeit a quiet one.

"I'm sure Neji will let you have the night to yourself if that's what you want Gaara, you'll just have to get through the first hour with him alright?"

She said quietly to him setting both their empty cups back on the tray sitting on the side table next to her side of the couch.

"The charity starts at five correct?"

Hanabi raised her voice and directed her question at Mikoto, who was also drinking from a small tea cup.

"Yes. I'm assuming you'd like to start getting ready?"

"Of course. I have things to do and then I have to make sure this boy looks presentable enough. We're going to need quite a bit of time I think so we'll need to get going if we want to be on time."

Hanabi gestured toward Gaara before she stood up and made an obvious show of heading to the door, knowing full well that if she kept Gaara there any longer, he'd start acting unbearably uncooperative for the rest of the night.

"We'll see you at five then."

Gaara raised a non-existent brow as he was pulled out of the room, through the front foyer, and out the front door, by a fast walking Hanabi.

"You seem to be in a hurry."

Hanabi gave him a look that Gaara wasn't even going to pretend to understand. She looked exasperated, amused, and determined.

"You wouldn't have wanted to sit there any longer, I'm sure. They'll talk and gossip between themselves for the next hour or so and then rush home to start getting ready. I'd rather not be rushed and have to deal with you when you're bored. I had enough of that when we were shopping for clothes."

Gaara thought about her response before nodding slightly. Hanabi was sure getting to know him well, she certainly wasn't wrong in her assumption.

"Fair enough."

X

"So Sasuke, what was all that about this morning?"

Neji asked as he picked up his white, long-sleeved shirt and slipped it on, buttoning up all but the top two buttons and tucking the shirt into his black slacks.

The three of them were changing in the large dressing room at the men's clothing department they'd reserved their clothes from. Sasuke had been silent the entire car ride and Neji wasn't going to put up with it any longer. He looked up with he'd finished with the buttons and gave the raven an impatient look.

"I did something stupid this morning and I'm afraid my mom and Naruto might have been laughing about it together."

Neji was confused.

"What'd you do?"

The brooding boy sighed and finished buttoning up his black shirt up a little over half way before continuing.

"I kissed Naruto. But I swear I thought he was sleeping. I've just been thinking about it all morning and I can't think of any other reason the two of them would be giggling and whispering to each other otherwise. That Dobe was probably faking it the whole time!"

Neji smiled to himself, secretly thinking that Sasuke was actually kind of brave for trying like he had. Neji would have been too afraid of losing a limb to attempt it with Gaara.

"Even if he was faking it Sasuke, don't just assume he was making fun of you. Think of your mother! Would she ever make fun of you and enjoy it if she didn't think it was cute of you Sasuke? She's that kind of woman. Did Naruto look upset about anything?"

Sasuke looked a little unsure before shaking his head. Naruto hadn't looked upset at all, he'd actually looked rather happy that morning.

"Then don't worry about it. You can either ask him if he knows, or you can ignore it and try again tomorrow."

Neji watched Sasuke look up in surprise before turning red, the thought of doing it again actually registering in his mind. The brunette couldn't help but laugh lightly before picking up a black belt with a silver buckle and tossing it to Sasuke.

"Now finish getting dressed. Zabuza's already done and waiting for us so we can head back and help set up."

Neji watched Sasuke turn away and ignore him before moving onto his own clothes. He'd already finished with his shirt and pants, so it didn't take him long to slip on his silver vest, buttoning up the nice satin material in the front and then move over to a bench to slip on his black shoes.

Hanabi had arranged for these clothes for him like she did most every thing else, saying they were professional, but matched his eyes and hair nicely. Neji hadn't worried so much about that, but now that he was looking in the full length mirror against one wall, he couldn't help but agree. He just hoped Gaara liked it, even a little, not that he was going to get his hopes up.

Compared to Zabuza who was wearing black slacks, a black tie, vest and a white shirt neatly pressed and fully buttoned up, he looked like a waiter.

At least the other man was something more professional looking, even if he ended up looking like a mafia boss. He'd still impress people. Neji tried to get over that thought and looked over to see Sasuke had finished tucking his indecently unbuttoned black shirt, into his black pants. He hadn't gotten a vest because he couldn't unbutton his shirt the way he wanted to with one on. The only thing not black on the other boy was his silver belt buckle. But even he looked impressive in a club owner sort of way.

Not that Neji would get away alive if he told the boy that much chest made him look like a pimp or a stripper. That was just Sasuke's version of professional, and no one ever complained, especially not the other women who frequented parties just to see him.

X

Naruto was more than a little nervous when Mikoto left him a few hours later to greet early arrivers to the party taking place almost directly beneath his feet in the huge ballroom he hadn't actually seen yet. She'd been helping him get ready for the event for the last hour and a half once she'd gotten her own dress, hair and makeup finished.

Now she'd left him with the promise of sending Sasuke up to get him.

The blonde was almost certain the minute the raven walked in, the boy would laugh and refuse to be seen with him, the way his brother and mother had dressed him.

Naruto was wearing a white shirt with puffy sleeves and ruffles down the front, beneath a sky blue, tight fitting, vest. That wasn't the end of it though. He was wearing black pants that felt more like thick tights and a pair of black leather, knee high boots. Overall he reminded himself very much of a renaissance prince.

His hair had been done in such a way that his spikes were only mildly tamed. Some of them fell to frame his face while the others did their own thing. It really was a nice look on him, but that didn't make Naruto any less nervous about what Sasuke was going to think. The boy was going to have to be seen with him after all and he'd hate pissing off the boy he'd been getting along better with.

He was starting to actually like the boy a lot.

A soft knock on the bedroom door, followed by Sasuke's voice calling his name, made Naruto stand up from the bed he'd been sitting on. It was now or never.

The door opened and Naruto closed his eyes, expecting to hear a snicker from the other boy and some comment on being lost in the wrong era. But nothing came. Instead he heard something quite unexpected.

"You look nice Dobe."

Naruto looked up with a tiny blush from the compliment, to see Sasuke standing in the doorway with what was almost a smile, on his face.

"Yeah?"

He asked self-consciously.

"Yeah. You do. Now shall we get going?"

Naruto nodded and, without thinking about it, took the arm that Sasuke offered to him.

X

"So what do you think?"

"These were not what you bought me yesterday Hanabi, I would have noticed something like this in the bags."

"You honestly think it took me over five hours to get ready before coming to help you? Please, I took the old clothes back and got these instead. I think they look so much better on you. Fit your personality better too. Besides, I want to see what Neji thinks of them. I want to see his face when we meet him downstairs."

"He'll definitely be surprised."

"Oh shut up. You look good. Now come downstairs and meet us by the front door once you've got your shoes on. I have to go grab something."

Gaara nodded and watched the youngest Hyuuga girl leave the room, giving him his alone time to get used to what he was wearing.

It wasn't what the redhead would have considered formal, but it didn't look anything like ripped jeans and a t-shirt would have. Hanabi had got him a pair of pants that were skin tight until they reached his calves, then they splayed out slightly over the pair of small black boots he was attempting to put on. The thing about the pants though was they were almost exactly the same color as his skin with a hint more tan to them since he was a little pale and they had black stitching in a thick line up the front of both legs that went up over his knees and thighs with one extra thick line stitched to wrap in a ring around the knee of each leg. It certainly drew the eyes to the tighter part of the pants over his thighs.

The top she'd gotten to go with them was a long sleeved black sweater that hung off his shoulders and left his neck completely bare. The top of the material folded over nicely at the top just below his collarbone.

If his outfit hadn't been enough, Hanabi had also flattened his hair so it fell nearly into his eyes and against his neck in the back, then she'd mussed it up on the top to give it a styled look.

Formal he certainly wasn't, but as he headed out of the room and down the stairs that lead right to the front door, he saw Neji.

That man made him feel loads better.

Neji was dressed nicely enough, but not in something overly flashy. It was nice to see something so calm and casual on him. He smiled lightly once he was down the stairs, walking over to stand next to the long haired boy.

"Hanabi picked these. I hope they're alright."

Gaara watched Neji as he tried to say something and failed. The other boy also seemed to be trying very hard not to fully examine the clothes he was wearing. It wouldn't have been proper in his family's eyes for him to check out his date obviously. Gaara mentally teased the boy.

"Th-they're fine."

Neji looked away and tried to hide the slight color in his cheeks.

"Good. I'm glad you like them."

Gaara smiled widely to himself before turning around and heading out the front door after a nearly giggling Hanabi. Leaving Neji to figure things out on his own and follow them.

X

Zabuza waited patiently by the door to the Uchiha estate for his mother and Haku. The woman had sent him ahead once they'd got home from changing into their clothes and said she'd bring the boy to him when they were ready. So after helping set things up and helping the Uchiha family welcome those few that had already showed up, he moved to lean against the doors at the front of the house and wait.

"Ah there you are!"

Zabuza turned a few minutes later to see his mother walking up the front steps, purposely blocking his view of the boy behind her.

"Be a dear and get Haku's coat will you."

Keiko patted her son on the shoulder and walked inside without the two of them, wishing she could stick around and watch her son, but she had other things to do. She was going to leave them alone for the night and let them have some time together. She had been hogging Haku's attention almost the whole time he'd been there so far.

Haku smiled and watched Keiko leave before turning to Zabuza. The man relaxed his pose and took Haku's hand, leading him inside before closing the doors behind them and walking toward a coat closet that most people didn't use when they came to events like these.

Haku waited until the boy was turned around opening the closet, to remove the long cloak Keiko had insisted he wear. She had wanted his dress to be as much a surprise for Zabuza as he did.

Zabuza turned around and took the cloak from Haku, hanging it up in the closet without really looking at the other boy until he'd finished his task. Then he closed the closet and turned around for the last time.

And froze.

Haku was wearing a floor length, sleeveless gown. His hair curled in perfect waves to fall over his shoulders and just passed the top of the dress in front. The dress itself was white and had a fluffed out skirt with black swirled designs adorning the bodice thickly before tapering out the farther they went down, leaving the skirts an undecorated white. The boy had black gloves that went up over his elbows to match and if Zabuza could have seen them, he would have seen a pair of black high heels lacing up over Haku's ankles.

Haku watched quietly with a worried expression on his face as Zabuza stared at him. The man held his expressions in so well, Haku couldn't tell what he was feeling when he looked at him.

"I hope this is-"

"You're beautiful."

Haku closed his mouth quickly and smiled brightly when the other boy interrupted him, latching himself onto the other boy's arm quickly so he could hide his almost permanently present blush from Zabuza.

"Shall we go?"

Haku's light voice and innocent actions made Zabuza crack a small smile as he nodded and lead the two of them into the ballroom down the hall on the first floor.

* * *

I know it's taken me awhile to update, but here it is. I had to split Chapter six into two pieces because it got really long, so look forward to the next part as Chapter seven soon!

I promise it'll be sooner than this last update.

-Himitsu


	7. Chapter 7

**The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy**

**-Book 2, Chapter 7-**

Pairings: NarutoXSasuke, HakuXZabuza, GaaraXNeji

* * *

Haku followed Zabuza down the empty entrance hall to the main ballroom the charity had been set up in. What he saw when the doors opened for them, was far more extravagant than he'd expected. The doors had been opened by two men dressed in suits and next to them was a finely dressed woman announcing the names of the people who'd entered just before them.

Haku was so fixated on everything in the room that he didn't realize he was being pulled forward to the top of a short set of stairs. The room had two huge chandeliers hanging from the domed ceiling over a mass of people. There were tall windows from floor to ceiling on the opposite wall that looked out over a beautiful little sitting garden and many people were disappearing through a door opposite them to sit outside among the flowers. Apart from that there were many different stalls set up around the room and off to the right there was a large dance floor where people were dancing to a live orchestra. The stalls ranged from a fancy food buffet with a silver water fountain, to information booths with pamphlets and books about the adoption agencies being sponsored.

Haku was so busy taking all of this in, their names were called and he was being led down the stairs before he realized they'd moved.

A ball of excited blonde hair nearly knocked him over when he finally stepped onto the nice wood floor of the ball room.

"You're here! And look at that dress... No wonder Mrs. Momochi wanted to keep it a surprise!"

"It's good to see you too Naruto!"

Haku giggled in a much more quiet voice than the blonde had used. It was good that he knew someone here. It made everything that much easier to handle when he realized everyone was staring at the two new faces in the crowd who'd shown up as surprising dates for two of the most well known men in society.

"Now that you're here, we can wait for Gaara together and see what sort of outfit he got wrestled into."

Naruto said, bouncing happily, while still clinging to the arm of a certain raven he'd dragged over with him. Haku hadn't realized the Uchiha was there at first, he and Zabuza had just stood by quietly watching and letting them have their moment together.

They didn't have to wait long before three more familiar names were announced and Gaara came walking confidently down the stairs in an eye-catching outfit with a slightly frazzled looking Neji Hyuuga beside him and a thoroughly amused Hanabi leading the way.

The blonde disappeared from Haku's side and greeted their redheaded friend with the same enthusiastic greeting he'd given the youngest raven. Only, Gaara didn't stagger under Naruto's crushing hug like Haku had.

X

As much as Sasuke was enjoying seeing Naruto so happy with his friends, he knew he was going to have to be the cause of a few rather boring hours of business talk and self introductions with some of the higher ups for the blonde boy. It wasn't truly necessary for the boy to be with him, but leaving your date at a party like this was considered rude and Sasuke kind of wanted someone there to keep him from getting too bored himself.

"Dobe, as great as it is that your friends are here, we have to be moving on."

Sasuke kept his face blank as Naruto turned and pouted at him, before he grabbed hold of the boy's hand and pulled him away from the party to where his father was waiting. The man had been giving Sasuke disapproving, impatient looks for a few minutes now and the longer he made his father wait with his possible business clients alone, the more angry he'd get.

These parties were all about business and how successful your children were compared to those of whoever you were talking to. This was why Sasuke, a medical student in training to become a doctor at some of the most well known hospitals had to be as a bragging right for his father.

Fugaku was already mad enough that he couldn't use the excuse of having a "single" son for his client's daughters to date this time, since Mikoto had insisted on Sasuke bringing Naruto as his date to the party. Sasuke would rather not make his father anymore irritated than he already had by dragging his feet.

It took all of twenty minutes of talking with one person after another before Naruto started to make it really obvious how bored he was. Hearing about market sales, loans, stock markets and a whole bunch of other business related things was not something the blonde had ever been interested in if his slouched, swaying posture was any indication.

Sasuke quickly decided letting Naruto go spend his time as he wished was better than keeping him around to annoy his father and the man's potential business partners. Sasuke excused himself momentarily from the conversation he was currently having and dragged Naruto, who'd started to wiggle in place with pent up energy, over to a pillar for a private conversation.

"Dobe, I get that you're bored with all this. If I let you off on your own will you promise to behave and not wreck anything?"

"Who do you think I am Teme! Some kind of rebellious ruffian? I'm not going to wreck anything!"

"Shh... People can here you when you yell in here."

"Than don't say crap like that Teme!"

"Fine, go have your fun then. Whatever."

Sasuke walked back to his father far less comfortable and happy than he had been as Naruto stalked quietly off in another direction to search for his friends.

X

Naruto couldn't believe Sasuke had the nerve to say something like that to him. He'd been behaving himself all night! The Teme just didn't appreciate how hard he'd been trying.

The blonde kept walking away from the source of his anger and found himself without anyone to talk to after awhile. During his walk he'd seen both his friends but he hadn't wanted to bother either of them. Haku had looked like he was having the time of his life when Naruto spotted him dancing with Zabuza among the sea of flowing skirts and fancy lace.

Then he'd found Gaara, but instead of being bored like Naruto had expected, he'd been having a heated conversation with Neji and another man Naruto knew to be a famous lawyer. Even Gaara seemed to know where his place was in all this and he seemed to be getting along with all these big shots just fine.

That was why Naruto found himself alone at a table covered in books that had the faces of children peering up from them. This was the adoption table. Naruto vaguely wondered if he'd ever been in a book like this before the three girls talking a few paces from him caught his attention.

"My father was going to try and put in a good word for me with that Hyuuga boy but of course, that redhead he brought with him just had to go show off and pretend he knew everything. For being so uncultured he totally had my father intrigued and when they'd moved on my father had the nerve to come back and tell me what a well educated boy that stupid redhead was when it came to law!"

Naruto couldn't help but feel a little proud of Gaara when he overheard the girl complaining, but he had yet to see why his friend's knowledge of law was important.

"Well, you might as well give up on Neji then. You know how important it is that his date compliments him. Lord knows you know nothing about the way the law works. You'd just embarrass him in front of all the people he's trying to win over."

"I know, I don't really stand a chance if I can't support him in what he wants to do like a good wife should, but to be upstaged by a peasant boy is just embarrassing!"

A light bulb clicked on in Naruto's mind. That's why Gaara's knowledge was important. In this society, if Neji was interested in law, than in order to be the man's date or potential bride you'd have to be able to impress the people he wanted to do business with. If Gaara hadn't said anything or hadn't known anything, that would reflect on Neji and the client wouldn't see the man as worthy of their time.

Well no wonder Sasuke had sent him off. He was probably ruining business for him and his father by being so obviously bored. Naruto suddenly felt really guilty, but it wasn't like he'd known any of this before hand, he was just supposed to be there to show off. Or so he'd thought. But then what were people thinking about Haku and him? Haku obviously didn't know anything about martial arts either and it was pretty obvious that's what Zabuza was interested in.

"Well even if you have to give up on Neji, there's always the other two, Zabuza and Sasuke, right?"

"Are you kidding me!"

This was the third girl that Naruto hadn't heard a word from until now.

"She doesn't stand a chance with Zabuza either. I wanted that man until he brought that boy with him. There's no way any of us could compete with that. Even if he doesn't know anything about martial arts which would be a big help in the Momochi family, he's still far from plain. He's gorgeous! All he'd have to do is show interest in the topic and people would fawn over what a wonderful boy he is. He just has to have the potential of becoming an asset to the family, I mean that's what Mrs. Momochi did right? She gained knowledge after marrying into that family but she was perfectly willing to learn before and everyone could see that."

Now he'd gotten part of his answers explained. Knowledge was key, but even if you didn't have it like Haku, you could still be more than just a pretty face by showing you were interested in your date and what their family did.

That was yet another strike against Naruto. He wasn't bad looking, but he'd made it perfectly clear he wasn't interested in anything Sasuke was talking about. He should have tried harder, now that this much made sense it was pretty obvious it was his fault Sasuke had been upset.

But Sasuke wanted to be a doctor, that much Naruto knew, so why was he talking business instead of medicine? Was Naruto supposed to have shown interest in both?

"Well what about Sasuke then? He doesn't seem to be taken."

"You guys should really give up on me. I'll just have to lower my standards. Even I know I'm not perfect and you can't be part of that family if you are anything short of it. That entire family is made up of gods, I swear. All of them are smart, ambitious and gorgeous. I have about as much a chance as that poor boy Sasuke showed up with. He certainly doesn't stand a chance that's for sure. Mrs. Uchiha probably just wanted Sasuke to have a date too since both of his friends did. Those three families are pretty much untouchable. But a girl can dream right? I mean, that's all half the female population here does when it comes to those three bachelors. I'm just glad I wasn't set up to be such a clash with the Uchiha family. How embarrassing for that poor blonde and for poor Sasuke too!"

Naruto was certainly not enjoying this part of the conversation. He was furious, but instead of walking away, which he really wanted to do, he stayed to listen. This was probably going to be the only chance someone spoke so honestly about his faults right in front of him. Naruto wasn't stupid, he was slow sometimes but he knew a good chance to improve himself when he saw one.

"I know right! He's a hot blonde to be sure, but that's just it isn't it? He's blonde haired, blue eyed and I don't think he knows the first thing about the Uchiha family. From what I saw he totally stepped all over their pride."

"Yeah, it wasn't bad enough that his colorful appearance totally clashed with the black and white of the Uchiha family, but it looked like he was actually going to walk away from that one conversation Mr. Uchiha was having with the head of that company. Of all the things to do, even if Sasuke isn't going to follow into the family and become head of the Uchiha Corporation, you'd still have to show interest in the company anyway and know something about it to even stand a chance. Not just stand there looking bored to death."

"Yeah, it's good the boy went off on his own before Sasuke actually got around to meeting with any of the doctors here. The Uchiha business is so well known that its name wouldn't be tarnished that easily, but if the boy had stayed around and still showed no interest in Sasuke's career choice as a doctor he could have ruined everything for poor Sasuke. That boy needs all the good reputation he can get since he's branching away from his families business into something completely different."

"You guys act like it's hopeless for that blonde but really, if he just used his opposite personality to appeal to those people who think the Uchiha's are too cold, he could totally get Sasuke a lot more attention in the medical field. If I were head of a hospital I'd be looking for someone who's good at their job and dedicated, but also someone who's a people person. I mean you'd be getting some patients who needed support and a smiling face instead of a stoic one. In that sort of field you'd end up needing both sides. Really, if you think about it, Mrs. Uchiha made a good choice. The boy is just clueless as to the way things work in our society. Someone should really talk to him, it'd probably do a world of good for Sasuke and since that's the main point really in bringing a date..."

Naruto left. Staying to hear all that out had been one of the best decisions he'd ever made but he didn't need to hear anymore. Now he needed to use what he'd learned and fix things. He'd caused enough problems for Sasuke and he was going to prove to everyone in this room that he wasn't just some bad decision on Mikoto's part. He was going to be worth the Uchiha family's name! And he was going to start by being a worthy date for Sasuke, one that wasn't a hindrance or an embarrassment. If there was one thing Naruto understood, it was having a lot of pride in oneself, and those girls had been right, he'd totally stepped all over Sasuke's good intentions and let him down.

Naruto quickly made his way over to where he could see Sasuke starting a conversation with someone else. It looked like he was by himself too and from the way his shoulders tensed and his jaw tightened, Naruto could tell Sasuke was nervous this time. This was probably one of those majorly important people Sasuke had wanted to talk to tonight. A plan formed in Naruto's mind as he walked and he quickly made his way over to put his plans into action and make things right again.

X

Sasuke couldn't believe he was getting the chance to talk to the head of the Konoha Hospital. He'd been doing his residency at a small clinic in the heart of the city but everyone knew that Konoha Hospital was one of the greatest places around to get medical treatment or undergo surgery. It was also the place Sasuke had been trying to get an internship at for over a year now, but the place was hard to get into and had a lot of requirements for its doctors.

Not only was it a famous hospital, but the man that Sasuke was introducing himself to was also known for being an easy going guy who lived on spur of the moment decisions, the man who ran the hospital.

Sasuke was going to mess this up all on his own. He'd been taught from an early age, how to deal with shrewd business people and stubborn company owners, but if his current situation with Naruto was any proof, he was a complete novice when it came to normal happy people. Or in Naruto's case, abnormal happy people.

"So, I heard you actually came to one of these with a blonde boy for a date! Really it's made quite a stir among the people here, I've been hearing all sorts of stories about him. I was looking forward to meeting him..."

The doctor's comment made Sasuke sigh internally. Crap, of course the man wanted to see Naruto. The one person he'd sent off to who knows where was the one who actually got him an in with the biggest man in the city's medical history. Sasuke himself wouldn't be near appealing enough to warrant such a conversation on his own. He was going to have to come out and tell the man he had no idea where his date was and then his chance would be ruined, but it wasn't like he could lie to a person like this and get away with it.

Sasuke was feeling miserable for getting mad at the dobe all over again.

"Ma, Sasuke! I'm sorry about earlier, I really wasn't feeling well. But you were right, some fresh air out in the gardens and a glass of cold water was all I needed."

Sasuke had to try really hard, not to jump and act completely surprised to see the blonde at his side again. He also had to pretend he knew what was going on and play along, that was all he could do.

"I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. I was worried about you. You'd been gone quite a while."

Naruto moved to hug his arm and Sasuke's cold mask cracked a little. Seeing the blonde again made him want to smile.

"Yeah I was going to go up and take a nap, but then I decided to try what you told me since it couldn't hurt and look at that! I'm well again! Oh... I'm sorry I've interrupted! My name's Naruto Uzumaki, It's nice to meet you!"

Sasuke watched Naruto's hand move from his arm as he offered it to the doctor who was still standing in front of the raven, watching them. Wonderful, Sasuke had completely forgotten he was there.

"You must be the date I've heard so much about! I'm Dr. McCormick. I'm the head of Konoha Hospital."

Naruto smiled brightly and shook the man's hand enthusiastically. He knew how to deal with nice people like this man and if everything went well, he could maybe redeem himself in Sasuke's eyes. Knowing the head of a hospital that even Naruto knew was good, was something the blonde knew would be a really good reputation boost for Sasuke if he did this right.

"I know next to nothing about medicine and hospitals, but even I've heard of that one! It has a great reputation even among us poor people. One of the kids I went to the orphanage with was taken there and treated for some lung condition. When he came back he told all the rest of us how much fun his nurse had been and how helpful his doctors were. We were all pretty surprised to hear he'd been treated so nicely, I mean not many of us were when we were sent to other clinics. Not many like helping kids that can't pay for it."

"Really? I've heard that a lot actually from quite a few of the kids I've met at our hospital. We take in as many as we can from orphanages when they need it. I'm glad your friend had a good time and got better."

"Me too! It gave my friends and I a lot more hope that there were still good people out there that we could go to if we needed. You have no idea what a great thing hope is for kids like me! It does wonders!"

"Actually I do have an idea! My wife and I adopted our son a few years back and our daughter just this last summer but both have definitely improved now that they have a family, I've noticed a great deal of change in their self confidence too."

"That's great! I always love hearing about good things like that happening to good kids."

Sasuke listened to the two of them continue to talk and could not believe what he was seeing, he was truly surprised to see how well Naruto and the doctor were getting along. After a few more minutes the conversation took a turn and Sasuke became the one being asked questions.

"So, If Naruto here wasn't born into one of these rich families, how was it that you two met Sasuke?"

Sasuke smiled and wrapped one of his arms around Naruto's shoulders. He was feeling much more comfortable now, and it was obvious the doctor was too.

"We met at school actually. He just started there this year on an athletic scholarship and we have dance class together. That's how we met. We also ended up signing up for the same community service at his old orphanage and we've been working together to clean up gardens out there together."

"Wow really? What a clash in society. Still, I'm glad you've had the chance to meet and get to know one another, you two seem to have a good influence on each other and getting to know all different kinds of people as well as being able to work with them is something I admire greatly. I'm actually quite proud to hear you stepped out of the box most rich people are born in Sasuke, It makes me feel much better hearing you've got this experience."

"Thank you sir. I know it's defiantly made me a better person meeting Naruto, He's certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone many times but I've never been let down or disappointed with the new things I've experienced. It's definitely a good change for me."

Sasuke's face cracked into a small soft smile as he looked back at Naruto who he still had his arm around. He hadn't felt this honest or this happy in a long while. It was a nice feeling. He just hoped Naruto didn't think he was lying through his teeth.

The doctor smiled at them both and after a short pause where he seemed to be thinking about something he spoke again.

"Sasuke, there's something I'd like to offer you if the two of you would be alright with it. I know it's not what you might be looking for but I have a job opening for a doctor in general practice that could give you a lot of good experience while you're in school. It'll give you a good background to start out with so you can get an idea of what you'd like to move into and study more specifically later on. If you'd like the job it's yours, but only under one condition."

Sasuke could not believe what he was hearing. This wasn't just the internship he was hoping for, this was an actual job. He was qualified for this position and had been studying for quite a few years now, but he'd still never dared to hope for something so good.

"I'd be honored. What's the condition."

"The condition is this. I'll give you the job as long as Naruto also agrees to work as your assistant. I know you've shown a great deal of interest in our hospital and you're well qualified for what I'm offering, but I'd also like to see that smiling face around the hospital. I think it'd be good if both of you became a part of the team. What do you two think?"

Naruto was speechless. He'd just been trying to give a good impression to this man in hopes he'd consider Sasuke as a future asset. But now even he was being offered a job.

"I'd love to work with Naruto, but of course that's up to him..."

Sasuke looked down to see Naruto still wide eyed and shocked, completely speechless.

"Do you need a little more time to think things over?"

Dr. McCormick asked nicely, looking at Naruto, since Sasuke had already agreed to his conditions. Naruto gave him the most confused look ever and Sasuke had to keep a hand over his mouth to block a laugh. He knew that look. He'd seen it many times when asking Naruto a question he thought was the stupidest question in the world. This was the "Did you really just ask that?" face.

"Do I need more time? Of course not! I'm just so completely stunned and excited. I never expected to be offered something like this! This is amazing! I was totally going to keep mowing lawns for the next ten years too but this is-"

Sasuke covered Naruto's mouth quickly with one hand and smiled a rather big smile full of laughter before turning to look at the doctor again.

"I think this means he'd love to be part of your team, Dr. McCormick. Thank you for this."

The doctor gave a throaty laugh and shook Sasuke's free hand happily, before moving to shake Naruto's hand as well.

"Then I hope to see the two of you in my office on Monday after your classes have finished. We'll go over the specifics of everything then and what certifications Naruto will need to get before he'll be able to help with medications, injections, that sort of thing. It was good meeting the both of you!"

Sasuke released Naruto and the two of them said their goodbye's to the doctor before he made his way to the doors and probably back home for the night.

"That was not what I was expecting to happen when I came over here to help put on a good impression for you. I'm sorry about the way I was acting earlier. I didn't realize what-"

Naruto was cut off for the second time that night, but this time it wasn't by Sasuke's hand. Sasuke kissed Naruto full on the lips with as much gratitude and happiness as he could put into it, completely shocking the blonde by this unexpected make out session. Not that he really minded the kissing part. He would definitely be breathless and blushing by the end of it.

Sasuke pulled away from Naruto after a few minutes and smiled, pressing his forehead against Naruto's.

"You are amazing. Thank you. This never would have happened without you."

Those words and that smile made Naruto blush a bright red, but he smiled back just as happily, content to sit there with Sasuke silently even though he was very aware of all the people around them staring. This was definitely a side of Sasuke he wanted to see more of.

* * *

Thanks for waiting so long! I know it takes me forever to update, but if you guys PM me and ask when the next chapter is like someone did for me today, I may actually get around to writing sooner... I'm usually more motivated when I know people are looking forward to the updates!

Just so all of you know.

-Himitsu


	8. Chapter 8

**The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy**

**-Book 2, Chapter 8-**

Pairings: NarutoXSasuke, GaaraXNeji, HakuXZabuza

* * *

By the time the night's charity ball was over, Haku was exhaustedly sitting at a table with Zabuza. He'd kicked off his shoes under the table to try and find some relief for his aching feet as Zabuza had gotten up to get the two of them drinks. He was glad all the tables had floor length table cloths or he might have had to suffer and limp all the way home after the festivities were finally over. Haku could only assume that taking off your shoes in a place like this was unacceptable.

Luckily for him though, the night was coming to a close. The amount of people still in the room had fallen drastically, and those left were just finishing up conversations before heading out.

Haku sighed deeply and closed his eyes for a brief moment before he heard someone's footsteps approaching and quickly became alert again, thinking it was Zabuza returning. But instead he found himself face to face with a cheery looking Itachi who happened to have six small papers splayed between his fingers.

"Could I ask you for a favor Haku?"

Itachi's face never changed, his strangely misplaced smile still firmly intact as he lay the papers in front of Haku on the table. The younger boy never got the chance to reply.

"I've got these tickets to an amusement park for tomorrow and I was wondering if you'd mind convincing your friends to come along with you. My husband just finished training his dolphins for their first show tomorrow and I'd like to have as much support there for him as I can. You understand don't you?"

"Of course I do."

"Wonderful then I'll be seeing all six of you there for the show tomorrow! Don't worry, you can just enjoy the rest of the park before and after the show, but make sure you actually show up alright? It wouldn't do to forget the main event now would it?"

Itachi was gone as fast as he had come, leaving little room for debate or refusal from Haku. And of course, Itachi had been smart in his attack plan. If he'd gone to anyone else, none of them probably would have gone to the show. Gaara and Sasuke would have flat out refused the offer most likely. Neji and Zabuza would have politely declined, and even though Naruto would have agreed, he'd have been hard pressed to get anyone else to go. Itachi obviously knew how to play his cards, and Haku knew all too well he'd been played. Haku was the only one among them who could get his two best friends and Zabuza to agree, and through them, Neji and Sasuke were sure to follow.

Haku was also far too nice to just throw the tickets in the trash. Not that he was completely against the idea of going to an amusement park. He'd never been, but he'd heard they were fun. He just wasn't sure what other plans had been made or who else would want to go. Though none of them had been given much of a choice in this case.

Haku sighed to himself before giving an apologetic smile to the tall man who'd just arrived with his drink.

"Zabuza, we didn't have any plans tomorrow did we?"

X

Sasuke could not believe he was actually standing there in front of his brother's boyfriend's amusement park. He'd sworn to himself that he'd never come here willingly. He'd been opposed to going from the moment it'd been mentioned, but of course Naruto had been the complete opposite. The blonde had gotten so excited that he'd begged Sasuke to go with him, which after everything Naruto had done for him at the charity ball, Sasuke couldn't refuse. He owed the boy this much.

He still could not talk himself into regretting that decision, but he certainly wasn't happy to be there at the moment either.

The six of them were currently getting their hands stamped and handing over their tickets at the front gates of the Hokage Heads, the amusement park's official name. Naruto had also just finished getting them matching smiley face stamps, something that Haku seemed to find immensely funny if his giggling was any indication. Sasuke had to admit to himself that he was more embarrassed than anything else. This sort of affection was foreign to him and difficult to deal with for someone with no such experience. It'd take days for the stamp ink to rub off his skin and everyone would be able to see it until then.

Sasuke had no choice but to deal with it though, he was determined not to make any negative comments today and upset his "date". Itachi had been all for teasing him about their plans for the day that morning, knowing full well how much calling it a date would irritate his favorite little brother.

His mother had been worse though.

She'd gone so far as to pull Sasuke aside to let him know how much trouble he'd be in if Naruto didn't have fun today. Anything could happen to upset the blonde, but according to Mikoto, whatever happened would be Sasuke's fault without a doubt. So Sasuke was going to do his best to avoid being the cause at all costs.

For Naruto's sake, as well as his own, he was going to have as much fun as he possibly could.

X

Once all six of them were through the gates, Naruto wasted no time in leading them to every ride that looked interesting at first glance. He also made sure that Sasuke was his riding partner on every one of them, much to the raven's inner pleasure and outward embarrassment. The other boys partnered up much the same way with Haku clinging to Zabuza's side like a shy school girl holding onto her boyfriend's arm and Gaara merely pulling Neji's sleeve so he'd sit in the seat next to him on every ride.

The first ride they went on was a big swooping roller coaster, one of the main attractions, conveniently placed near the front entrance. A few skips through the gate and Naruto was already heading onto his first ride of the day with a slightly nervous Uchiha in tow.

They buckled themselves into the front three sections of two-seaters in the roller coaster car, barely getting their safety bars pulled down before a staff member ran down pressing them all a little too far down, causing Zabuza in particular a little bit of pain, if the man's slight grunt heard from behind Naruto was anything to go by. Seconds later they were off and going faster than the coaster looked like it was supposed to go. None of them had actually ridden a roller coaster before, the three rich boys being too busy for amusement parks, and the three poor boys not being able to afford it.

Either way, the ride couldn't have been over fast enough for the boys.

As soon as they'd taken off, Naruto's head had been slammed back into the hard plastic head rest behind him, making him incapable of enjoying the ride over his new found headache and slight dizziness. Sasuke had been luckier, but ended up with a bug in his mouth half way through the first loop and by the end, having swallowed the thing, was looking particularly green. Of the other four, Haku was the least affected, merely surviving with a bit of tangled hair and a new found fear of falling out of his seat while upside down. Neji's hair on the other hand, was a complete nightmare when the ride finally stopped. The tie had come out near the beginning of the ride because of all the wind, leaving Neji blind and irritated. Even Sasuke was laughing along with the three younger boys as the Hyuuga got out of his seat with his hair standing up in every direction. Gaara thought it was the funniest thing in the world and made a point of teasing Neji for it whenever the chance arose. The redhead himself forgot all about his own aching knee due to the hilarious scene in the seat next to him, until the moment he stepped out of the cars onto the metal exit platform. He'd jammed his knee into the front of the car upon re-entry when the ride slammed to a stop leaving a nice bruise and possibly bleeding cut that Gaara could see through the new hole in his jeans.

Gaara found ample sources of fun ignoring it though, in favor of torturing Neji with comments about his new hair style. Zabuza did much the same as Gaara, ignoring the fact that he couldn't breathe well anymore. The staff personnel had put so much effort into pushing the safety bar down over his lap in passing, that the entire ride had been one of suffocation for Zabuza, his only distraction being Haku's scared squeaks as he clung to his arm during the ride from the seat next to him.

Once they all manage to safely disentangle themselves from their seats. They headed out the exit ramp and toward a picture stand near the end. Each of the orphans immediately made their way to it with a protesting Neji trying to keep them from seeing the pictures, following behind. Gaara just couldn't resist seeing what Neji looked like during the ride though and wanted a picture of it to treasure.

He certainly wasn't disappointed either. The picture showed all six of them in one, and all of them were very obviously suffering from their ailments in the picture. It'd been taken right before the end of the ride, and Gaara made sure to ask for six copies so they could each remember their first ride together.

However, it was safe to say that after that ride roller coasters were no longer a favorite, and were mutually avoided.

That didn't stop Naruto from dragging them on many other types of rides though. The next one being a spinning ride where Neji and Sasuke were conveniently caught on picture smacking their foreheads together as one flew into the other. That wonderful picture was also going to go on Gaara's wall when he got back home.

The third ride was a haunted house where everyone was dropped several floors in their seats while watching flashing images of ghosts and listening to a story about murder and haunting spirits. Haku had been left in tears, frightened to death while Zabuza tried to calm him down. Naruto had been close behind him, but holding it in because he really didn't want Sasuke to think he was a wuss. Even though that had been one of his favorite rides, Gaara didn't want anything to do with the picture offered at the end of that ride. Seeing Haku cry once was enough. Instead, he bought a t-shirt with ghosts and zombies on the front advertising the ride and the fact that he'd survived it. He was going to be wearing that to bed and around the Hyuuga house often during the rest of the vacation, he just knew it.

The fourth ride was one that none of them realized was just as fast as the roller coaster, but this time each of them was settled into their seats much more comfortably. As fast as it was, the ride barely showed it because the room was black and full of neon signs and dance music. The ride was also much smoother, unlike the first coaster, and less crowded. By the end, the six of them had all wanted to ride it one more time before lunch. Sadly, there wasn't a picture for that one, so Gaara went without.

By the time the boys arrived at the food courts just outside the dolphin show stadium, only Gaara and Zabuza had any energy left. Somehow, even Naruto had been worn out enough to collapse in a red painted metal chair and remain unmoving after that.

Gaara took it upon himself to order food for all of them from the burger stand near their table, with Zabuza helping him carry it all back once their order came up. The tall man ate quietly after passing around the food, without caring much about what it was he was eating, but Sasuke and Neji gave their burgers and fries a good long look before deciding to eat anyway. Neji actually ended up liking the food and stole Sasuke's fries without asking. It was clear that even though the white-eyed boy liked it, Sasuke was not fond of any of it. So the raven discreetly pushed it closer to Neji when he noticed the other man stealing food out of the stereotypical red and white striped paper fry basket in front of him.

Sasuke did, however, pull the lettuce, tomatoes, and onions off his burger making an impromptu salad before Neji devoured what was left. So he could at least say he ate something if Naruto complained.

X

After that, Zabuza ended playing a few of the small games outside the arena in the little time they had left before the show. There was a small stuffed white rabbit prize at one of them that Haku had been looking at as they passed by on the way to get food.

Zabuza hadn't forgotten and was determined to win it for the boy as a surprise.

Gaara had also pushed Neji toward a stand full of water and floating cups once everyone else had moved off to play at the other game stalls. He'd been watching a few people play it from the tables and though none of them had actually gotten the ball they had to throw into any of the cups, Gaara wanted to try. It couldn't be impossible to win.

"Neji, play this with me."

Gaara didn't leave room for the other boy to respond or refuse, but that didn't mean Neji didn't give him a look for ordering him around anyway.

"Fine, but it doesn't look easy. You might not win anything."

"Well then if I don't win, you'll have to."

That earned him another surprised look from Neji, but the counter attendant had already placed a set of small balls in front of them. Gaara smiled to let Neji know he was just kidding and watch the boy visibly relax before he started to play.

Gaara didn't realize that the reason no one had won before was because of the stupid balls themselves. He'd made each one into a cup, and each one had then proceeded to bounce right out into the water, sometimes bouncing between several of the floating cups before taking the final dive.

This was the most annoying thing Gaara had ever seen. He'd already gone through five dollars worth and still hadn't succeeded. He was so focused that he didn't notice Neji smiling at him after the first few minutes. It wasn't until the white-eyed boy stopped him from paying for the next round that he realized Neji had been waiting for him.

"We'll be late for the show if you keep playing."

"Just one more time, I'll get one this time."

Neji had the gall to actually laugh at Gaara after that, making the redhead glare moodily at the Hyuuga. He crossed his arms and subconsciously hoped the boy would feel bad enough to pay for his next round. He didn't get his wish though.

"Forgive me, I've never seen you act like that before."

Neji said with a smile, having calmed down a little.

"You could make it up to me by buying me another round."

This made Neji nearly lose it again. Gaara didn't pout, or at least he didn't like to admit it, but right now he was doing exactly that.

"There'd be no point. Here, this is for you."

"You actually won this off that stupid game?"

Gaara's only answer was a small smile as the boy walked away, leading him over to where their friends had gathered at the dolphin show entrance.

Winning a prize hadn't been what Gaara was after when he'd kept playing that game, but now that he actually had a prize from it in his hands, he felt like he could walk away from the game happy. Even if he hadn't been the one to win, technically.

After they'd been let into the stadium and taken their seats together in the front few rows, Gaara got a better look at exactly what Neji had managed to win for him. He had no idea who picked the prizes for such a game, but they must have had issues. The stuffed ball in his hands was white and it had red ribbons hanging from one side, he turned it over to examine the rest of it and hopefully figure out what it was.

A big black pupil with a purple iris stared back at him, a few red veins had even been stitched randomly into the sides of the ball in his hands.

Gaara looked over at Neji and waited until he had the boy's attention before continuing in a blank voice, his expression one of slight confusion.

"Neji, this is an eyeball."

"Yeah, I came to the same conclusion when I saw it."

Gaara wacked him hard on the arm for that before continuing, making Neji wince and Naruto, who was sitting on his other side, laugh.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know, sorry. Really though, you should have seen the other options there were. I figured you'd rather have a slightly disturbing stuffed eyeball than a big pink Easter bunny holding an egg. Unless you'd rather I got the Alice in wonderland Barbie for you. That was the only other option."

Gaara's expression became one of relief and he hugged the eyeball closer without realizing it.

"Thank you, you're right. I definitely prefer the strange eyeball with the entrails still hanging off it."

Gaara turned to face forward with a new found respect for Neji's thoughtfulness, missing the triumphant smile that crossed the Hyuuga's face when he turned away.

X

Naruto was having the hardest time keeping his laughter down, he was currently dying in his seat next to a sopping wet Uchiha. This was definitely the best dolphin show ever.

When it'd started, a big man with small beady eyes walked on stage, the blonde remembered him as Kisame though he only barely knew the man. He'd welcomed them all back to the amusement park for the 30th year since it's opening, proceeding to talk about how these particular dolphins had been doing shows there every year since. The show had barely started and after that comment, Sasuke's first irritated noise had been made.

Naruto didn't get it at first, until he realized they'd been invited to a show that Itachi had "claimed" to be the first EVER. Of course the man had been messing with them when he'd said that. The blonde didn't care, but Sasuke wasn't a fan of this sort of trick coming from his brother.

The next thing that had happened, had been Itachi walking out on stage next to his husband, in a wetsuit. This surprised Naruto too, but he let it pass without much thought until later in the show when he realized the most probable reason for Itachi being a helper on the show.

Naruto had been impressed that the man actually was a trained helper, but of course, with Itachi there could only be an ulterior motive for his appearance, nothing less.

This reason was made known about half way through the show when they asked for volunteers to go up and shake fins with the dolphins. Naruto's hand had been up first thing to volunteer, and he'd been picked seconds later by a smirking, long haired raven. When he'd walked up to the side of the big glass aquarium and Kisame had showed him how to hold his hand, the dolphin had not only shaken his hand like she was supposed to, she'd also kissed him according to Itachi's signals.

Naruto thought it was cute.

When he went to sit back down, he could tell Sasuke didn't feel the same.

The look on Itachi's face indicated that he'd only got his brother to come today so he could torture him while he was there. Naruto realized the surprise dolphin kiss had probably been to tease Sasuke too, by making him jealous.

Not that Naruto was really certain how that was supposed to work, but it clearly had.

Sasuke looked like he was pouting, and if Naruto was right about the reason, then the blush that crossed his cheeks was a natural reaction to being the object of the other boy's interest and jealousy. Even if it was a rather strange thing to get jealous over.

He stayed quiet and only smiled when the dolphins did flips and other tricks until near the end when another little child was brought up as a volunteer. This time the dolphin was instructed to like the boy, and show his dislike for someone else in the audience. This was the reason Naruto just couldn't hold in his mirth any longer.

The dolphin had splashed at least a bucket or two worth of water all over Sasuke, drenching the already unhappy Uchiha.

Sasuke's expression was priceless.

The boy went bright red from anger and embarrassment that flared up when everyone started laughing. His hair was laying flat on his head, blocking most of his face from view and dripping even more water down his face and onto the plastic seat he was sitting on. Naruto could see the boy's shoulders tense up and his fists clench over the arms of the chair tightly.

Naruto realized he should probably try to calm Sasuke down before he hurt himself. There was nothing funny about seeing the raven so upset anymore. The amusement had passed and now Naruto just felt bad for laughing so hard like everyone else.

Even if it had only been intended for fun.

X

Sasuke was mortified that his brother would dare do that to him, but he cared more about the fact that everyone was laughing at him. He'd never taken public humiliation well, who would. He was also feeling stupid for taking it so badly.

His hands were squeezing the arms rests so tightly he could hear the plastic starting to bend under the pressure. He would have broken the chair too, had it not been for a certain blonde in the seat next to him.

"Sasuke?"

The blonde moved Sasuke's bangs out of his face so he could look at him while the show continued on for the last few minutes behind them.

"I'm sorry I laughed at you."

"You can laugh, everyone else did, it was funny right?"

"Not to you."

"That doesn't matter."

"To me it does, so, I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

Naruto gave him one of the sweetest smiles Sasuke had seen on the blondes face since they'd met. There was nothing teasing in it, he looked honestly sorry for having upset Sasuke. The raven was a little surprised by the concern, but he smiled back a little in return.

"Of course I forgive you. I never blamed you."

"No, but I blamed me. I know what it feels like to be laughed at when you don't want to be. I don't like it either."

Sasuke sighed and mussed Naruto's hair with his hand, feeling far more calmed down now after seeing the blonde look so upset for his sake.

"The point was to enjoy yourself. I'm just a bad sport, so don't worry alright?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Thanks for the concern though."

Naruto blushed a little and gave Sasuke another one of those sweet smiles before nodding in response and turning to watch the last of the dolphins wave goodbye to everyone, signaling that the show was over.

Once the staff and animals had disappeared back stage, Sasuke excused himself from the group to ring out his clothes in the bathroom right outside the arena entrance, saying he'd meet them out there afterward. Naruto waved to him as he left and shortly after, followed everyone else out after the crowds had disappeared.

It wasn't quite late in the day yet, only being around three in the afternoon, but already they'd all had a long day, and they still had about an hour ride back home on the trains afterward.

Naruto looked around and watched his friends as they stood there waiting next to the bathrooms for Sasuke. Haku was busy naming the goldfish Zabuza had won for him at one of the game stalls they'd all played at before the dolphin show. The white rabbit Zabuza had originally been aiming for held in his other arm. Zabuza was just watching quietly as the younger boy conversed with first the white and then the orange gold fish, a relaxed expression on his face. Gaara was doing much the same thing, only he wasn't holding a goldfish and his conversation actually included Neji.

They were both looking at the thing in Gaara's arms with weird expressions and talking about things they could do with it. Or coming up with what kind of animal it could have come from, Naruto wasn't sure. He couldn't hear them very well, and he wasn't sure he wanted to if that's what they were really talking about.

Everyone looked so happy and like they'd had a lot of fun together though, and Naruto was secretly glad they'd gotten to come. It brought them all a little closer and now they had a couple great new friends because of this whole vacation.

Sasuke joined them shortly after, looking wet, but no longer dripping and uncomfortable.

"Are we ready to leave then? Or are we staying longer."

"We've all decided to start heading home and just relax the rest of the day."

Neji answered Sasuke's question, while everyone else nodded in agreement, leaving the amusement park and walking together down the crowded streets to catch the trains back home. None of them were in too much of a hurry, so they talked together the whole way their, going over all the fun parts of the day and what they wanted to do for the final day of their vacation.

X

Gaara collapsed exhaustedly onto one of the slightly padded seats in the nearly empty train as all of his friends followed behind him, taking the seats next to him and across from him. Today had been fun for all of them, and Gaara couldn't help but smile when he thought about all the things they'd done that day. He was going to show off all the pictures he'd gotten to Hanabi when they finally got back, and then he'd change into his new t-shirt that was three sizes too large for him and lounge around in it for the rest of the day.

That was his only plan for the rest of the day, unless Neji or his family wanted to do something else, but so far it sounded like the best plan ever.

Speaking of Neji though, he looked just about as tired as Gaara felt, so maybe if he discussed this idea with him, they could lounge around together and avoid any other plans. The redhead blushed, a little embarrassed with his random thoughts about Neji. He looked discretely over at the other boy next to him and couldn't help but smile at what he was seeing.

Neji was watching Haku and Zabuza, who were sitting in the seats across from them, sharing ice cream that Zabuza had found at a small stand next to the train station. The only word to describe his look was, adorable. He was so envious of the affection the two of them were showing each other that Gaara couldn't help but laugh at the sad display of a pouting Hyuuga too shy to ask for the redhead's attention.

Gaara decided not to leave it up to Neji to ask first. They'd never get anywhere that way. So instead he took the initiative and reached over. He unfolded Neji's arms for him and pulled the boy's hand into his own, laughing quietly while he did.

"Is that better?"

"Nothing was wrong."

Gaara noticed the embarrassed but happy blush on Neji's face and shook his head.

"Don't bother playing Mr. Macho. I know you wanted me to hold your hand."

Neji didn't say anything for the first few moments, but then a smile spread on his face.

"Maybe you're right."

"Not maybe, I'm always right."

"Oh yes, of course."

Neji got another light slap on the arm for that smart ass comment, but it left both boys smiling and quietly laughing together anyway, despite Neji having been punished for saying it.

X

Naruto noticed the way Haku and, surprisingly, Gaara were being so affectionate with their hosts. He suddenly felt very awkward for just sitting there next to Sasuke with so much space between them.

His friends made him feel like he should be doing the same sort of cutesy stuff with Sasuke.

Sasuke was feeling much the same way. Feeling like he should be giving all his time and attention to Naruto. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he didn't usually like to express himself in front of others. However, did Naruto know that? He didn't want the blonde upset with him because he wasn't as open as his friends were, or as comfortable with their displays of affection.

"Umm..."

Naruto looked up to see Sasuke looking down at the floor of the train, thinking too hard about something.

"Yeah?"

"Did you want me to hold your hand too?"

"What? N-no! I'm fine."

"Oh."

"I mean, I do. But I'm fine waiting until no one can see us if you want."

"It sounds bad when you say it like that."

"Yeah, I guess it does. That wasn't what I meant though..."

Sasuke looked up with a small smile tilting the corners of his lips.

"I'm the type of person who likes to keep things all to myself, I'd rather spend time with you where it can just be the two of us, not because I need to show you off to prove myself to others. I'm sorry, I know I kissed you in front of all those people at the charity event last night, but I probably won't be repeating something like that for awhile. I... It's not that I don't want to... again... but... It's just so..."

Naruto smiled widely and lightly gripped the hem of Sasuke's shirt, pulling a little to get his attention.

Sasuke looked up at him and Naruto avoided the gaze, realizing how much easier it was to talk without looking directly at him.

"Don't worry, I've learned all that about you already. I don't mind. I'm... kind of the same way. Just us sounds nice."

Naruto and Sasuke both made a point of looking at the floor after that, but the blonde still caught the large happy smile that crossed Sasuke's face. He couldn't help but smile too after that and for the rest of the ride, a peaceful silence hung between the both of them.

* * *

I know it's been awhile, but the update is now finally written!

A few comments, The next chapter should be the last one in the book, and after that I'll start on book three which I'll be putting under the characters Naruto and Sasuke, so look for it there.

Other than that, I'm busy so if it takes a while for the chapters come out, try to be patient with me. The chapters will come out eventually.

-Himitsu


	9. Chapter 9

**The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy**

**-Book 2, Chapter 9-**

Pairings: HakuXZabuza, NarutoXSasuke, GaaraXNeji

* * *

Today was their last day together. Gaara couldn't believe how much had happened in just a week. It seemed like the vacation had just started and already, he was waking up on the last day. Gaara actually felt a little sad at the thought of everything coming to an end so quickly. He'd really been starting to get used to making this room, and this family, his own. Little reminders of the past few days were spread all over the walls and floor. His normal clothes and his new nice ones that he and Hanabi had gone shopping for, as well as his new naughty selection, were all strewn around the floor. He had even slept in his ghost covered "I survived!" shirt with his creepy stuffed eye ball toy under one arm, like it was a normal thing to do. His pictures from the previous day showing he and all his friends in some form of hilarity or another on all the rides, were taped up on the walls, reminding him just how fun yet temporary things were. Tape could easily be removed.

Gaara felt so at home here. He didn't want to leave.

He still had the day and one more night to go, but it already felt like things were over. Today was Saturday and they'd be heading back Sunday morning to have their "I abstained from sex" tests done. Then they'd go back to their shared dorm, just the three of them where they'd eat dinner alone and back to classes Monday morning.

Gaara should have been relieved. He wouldn't have to stay with a rich family full of snobs and etiquette rules anymore, but he didn't mind those things any longer. It'd begun to feel like he had a real family again. Hanabi and Hiashi seemed to like him, and since he never saw Hinata, things had been going great.

He was reluctant to get out of bed and face the day, convinced that once he did the day would actually begin and end in the blink of an eye. But he had to get up. If today was it then he wanted to make the most of it. And he'd start by spending more time with Neji. He hadn't spent much time with the boy, but the time he had been with him had been fun. It was time they did something together that the two of them actually wanted to do. Just the two of them.

Gaara pushed himself out of bed with new found determination and headed into the hall, still dressed for bed in his new favorite shirt that went to his knees, plaid green pajama pants, and his hair a mess of random spikes sticking up at unnatural angles. He was beyond caring about his appearance today as he had absolutely no intention of leaving the house, unless Neji had plans and really wanted to.

As Gaara wandered slowly down the carpeted hall barefoot in the direction of the dining room where he assumed the Hyuuga family would soon be having breakfast, he heard music playing down the hall. He vaguely remembered seeing a music room on this floor when he'd done his very first exploration of the house, but so far he'd never heard anyone actually playing music in it.

The sounds he heard drifting down the hallway were nice and light, the sounds of someone playing a spring related piece on the piano, meant to remind the listener of a gentle breeze in a field of flowers. At least that's what the song reminded the redhead of. Smiling to himself he decided to see who the source of the music was and quietly pushed the large door open.

The room was even more spectacular than Gaara remembered, with the morning sun shining through the ceiling high windows, painting the nearly empty room in a gentle light. The only other things in the room were a harp in one corner, a small white love seat just off the center of the room, and a grand piano pushed to the back right in front of the windows, leaving the rest of the wooden floor in the center of the room open.

The room wasn't what caught Gaara's attention though. The man sitting at the piano, looking like he'd just stumbled out of bed himself, was what made the redhead smile fondly, almost letting out a content giggle at the boy's appearance.

Neji was shirtless and sitting on the piano bench in nothing but his plain gray pajama pants and white ankle socks. This was also the first time Gaara had ever seen the brunette's hair down too, save for the time it was nothing but a big ball of tangles from the roller coaster ride. He'd only ever seen Neji at school before where it was required that he keep his hair pulled back at all times, but even at home he'd never worn it down. Gaara liked this rumpled side of Neji. Today was already turning out to be a day of getting to know new things about each other and hopefully, there would be a few embarrassing stories for later black mail purposes too.

Gaara was pulled out of his musings by the song changing to something a little too familiar for comfort, making the redhead nearly laugh out loud at exactly what song the older boy had chosen to play next. That wasn't the only surprise Gaara was in for though.

"Have you ever seen such a beautiful night?"

Gaara couldn't hold back his laughter after that. It was impossible. Who would have thought that Neji would actually sing the words to the Lizzie McGuire song while he played? Gaara certainly never would have guessed it.

Neji obviously heard him from the small frown he gave in the direction of the slightly open door, but he decided to ignore the laughing redhead and continue the song, despite the embarrassment he felt.

"I could almost kiss the stars, they're shining so bright."

That next line killed Gaara, he literally died laughing on the floor where he was now kneeling. That line had been meant for a woman, so Neji had decided to add to Gaara's humor and sing it in a much higher voice, impersonating a woman terribly.

"When I see you smiling, I go... oh... OH... oooh!"

Neji threw his head back slightly when he sang the last part, getting much more into the song now that he had an appreciative audience. But before he was able to sing the next female line, a pair of hands covered his mouth. Gaara had decided he really wouldn't survive hearing Neji sing like a woman again so decided to help him out, knowing his own voice was already much higher than Neji's when he sang.

"I would never want to miss this." Gaara moved his hands to let Neji continue.

"In my heart, I know what this iiiiis." Neji sang, holding out the end and playing a few louder notes on the piano keys.

"This is what dreeeeams are made ooooof."

"This is what DREEEEAMS are made of." Neji sang, copying Gaara's line with a bit more emphasis on the words, just like it'd been sung in the movie.

"I've got somewhere I belong, I've got somebody TOO love."

"This is what dreeeeams are made oooof."

The last two lines they sung together, both with big grins on their faces as the song ended and Neji played the last few notes quietly. Gaara was still trying to contain a few giggles as the song ended, keeping a hand over his mouth and shaking his head in amusement.

"What a thing to wake up to. So Mr. talented, know any other songs from teenage girl chick flicks?"

Gaara moved to lean against the side of the piano so he could see Neji's face instead of standing behind him when he spoke. But the redhead never was given an answer and instead, Neji just smiled at him, playing another song on the piano as his response. This time playing "What I've been looking for", from High School Musical.

"It's hard to believe that I couldn't see... you were always there beside me." Neji sang after playing the introduction and making Gaara laugh again at his choice of songs.

"Thought I was alone with no one to hold, but you were always right beside me." This time Gaara sang the part without missing a beat.

"This feeling's like no other. I want you to know, that I've never had someone who knows me like you do, the way you do, and I've never had someone as good for me as you, no one like you."

"So lonely before, I finally found... what I've been looking for."

"Hoooo..."

The rest of the song they sang together, Gaara adding in the musical, non-word, at the end since it was part of the song anyway, feeling silly as he did it but not really caring since he was enjoying himself.

"Before you make fun of me again, I only know these songs because I've watched the movies about twenty times with Hanabi. She's mature for how old she is, but she's still got her moments where she acts her true age."

"Then I suppose I should say how kind it is of you to do such a thing with her. What an ideal brother figure you are for her."

"Hey, I thought it was pretty noble of me."

Gaara shook his head and laughed in disbelief at that comment and let his arms rest on the top of the piano where Neji was still sitting. He was just full of laughter this morning it seemed.

"Full of yourself much Neji? The only reason I'm still teasing you is because you, in your own free time, play the songs from the show. It'd make sense in Hanabi was here with you, but she isn't, which leads me to believe that you just like the movies as much as she does."

Neji had the grace to blush, before giving the redhead a small half-hearted glare for his comment.

"So what, maybe I do like them a little. Make fun of me all you want."

A mischievous grin crossed the white-eyed boy's face.

"But you have something to answer for as well my dear redhead, for you know all the words by heart in both the songs I played. You knew what songs they were from the very beginning. Now how is that exactly?"

Gaara blushed a little too at the accusation, but quickly covered for it by sticking his nose in the air, perfectly imitating a snobbish rich boy who was never at fault for anything.

"I may not have a younger cousin to blame it on, but I do have Naruto. Those happen to be his favorite type of shows to make Haku and I watch with him."

It was Neji's turn to laugh, "Naruto? Really?" Sasuke was going to love that bit of information if he hadn't already discovered it for himself. The raven and the blonde were really such polar opposites.

"He's going to kill me for telling you." Gaara said, laughing along with Neji.

The two of them continued to laugh together as they left the music room in search of breakfast, something that was beginning to leave a delicious smell throughout the hallways of the Hyuuga castle.

"You know we're going to have to spend the rest of our day watching those movies right?"

Neji looked at Gaara like he'd gone crazy.

"Why?"

"Unless you have a better plan, I want to spend my day in my pajamas and preferably not leave the house either. And now you've given me a perfect idea of how to do exactly that and waste my precious day at the same time! So after breakfast we'll go through Hanabi's movie collection and pick only the best."

Gaara was already planning on grabbing the two movies they'd just sang from, but that didn't mean there weren't others that were just as good waiting to be watched and laughed at. Neji could already see Gaara scheming from the seat next to him at the breakfast table.

Today was going to be a long day full of teasing, he could tell, but surprisingly, Neji was looking forward to it.

X

Naruto and Sasuke had ended up doing much the same as Gaara and Neji had done that day, only Naruto had managed to take it one step further and avoided getting out of bed at all for the first half of the day. He'd ended up staying in Sasuke's bed again, sneaking in when the boy wouldn't be awake enough to ask why he was there, seeing as he didn't have Itachi's late night romping as an excuse anymore.

Sasuke didn't question his presence that morning either and the two of them ended up having breakfast in bed together, much to the raven's annoyance because Naruto had begged him for it and ended up getting egg and syrup all over the sheets where he'd sat.

The rest of the day had gone by quickly after that, the two of them spent time competing with each other in about five different video games. Three of them were supposed to be played as a team defeating monsters and other things, but even that had turned into a competition of defeating the enemy before the other, and keeping a running count to rub in the losers face.

By the time dinner rolled around, the two were exhausted from their all day video game competitions. Neither one was complaining though. Naruto had had a lot of fun with Sasuke that day and wouldn't change it for anything.

It'd just been the two of them, and Naruto was surprised to find he actually really liked hanging out with the boy when no one else was around. Sasuke acted like a fun, occasionally nice, slightly quiet and socially awkward guy when he wasn't upholding his rich snob reputation and image. Naruto thought all these qualities made Sasuke extremely cute, but he'd never say so out loud.

Naruto smiled to himself and let his head fall off the bean bag chair he was draped over so he was looking upside down at the door, having heard Sasuke's mother knock and call through saying something about dinner.

"It's open."

Sasuke said from his spot spread out on his stomach on the floor next to the bean bag Naruto had kicked him off of a few minutes before.

"My! You two look as though you had fun today."

Naruto could only imagine what it looked like to Mikoto. The room had video games, blankets, movies, pillows, and game systems spread out all over the floor, the two boys who had caused the mess, looking as though they were too exhausted to move and more than happy to just become part of the mess in the room.

Sasuke hadn't even lifted his head up from the floor to look at his mother, content to keep his nose buried in the soft fibers of the carpet. He even had a small white feather still stuck in the back of his hair from Naruto throwing a pillow at the back of his head. The blonde was a sore loser, though Sasuke had teased him about it for nearly an hour after they'd given up playing that game, so he might have deserved it.

"It was lots of fun!"

Naruto smiled happily from his awkward position, no one noticing the small smile Sasuke gave at the comment.

"I'm glad sweetheart! I brought you both dinner so go ahead and eat when you're ready."

Mikoto ruffled Naruto's hair, happy the boy had enjoyed himself with her son. She almost ruffled Sasuke's too, but though better of it when she noticed the feather sticking out of his hair. The feather made her giggle and she decided it looked happy there, no need to disturb it.

She left with a small, "Enjoy yourselves!"

Naruto was the first one up and picking the food he wanted off the tray she'd set on the floor next to the chair he was on.

"Come on Teme, you can't sleep now! It's dinner time and if you don't hurry I might eat it all! Oh man, look at this! Your mom is so cool. She had the chef make ramen for us for dinner! I love this stuff!"

The smile on Sasuke's face grew a little at hearing how happy Naruto was. He was feeling increasingly proud of himself for making the blonde smile and laugh so much. He'd never seen so many beautiful smiles in one day from the boy. It warmed his heart, but there was one more thing Sasuke wanted to do for Naruto before the night was up.

"Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah Teme?"

Sasuke sighed to himself at the name the boy had taken to calling him, pushing himself off the floor so he could sit up and look at the boy with noodles hanging from his lips.

"You remember the roses I've been taking care of at the orphanage during our volunteer period?"

"Sasuke those aren't roses. Those are the thorn bushes of death, but yes I remember them. Why?"

Sasuke took a moment to get up and open one of his dresser drawers before pulling something out and hiding it behind his back. He moved back over to sit on the floor facing Naruto before continuing to speak, pulling a small orange and pink rose from behind him.

"I went by the other day and noticed that some buds are starting to form deep inside your thorn bushes. This one is the first one to bloom... I thought you might like to have it."

Sasuke held it out to Naruto, not looking up at him as he did, feeling embarrassed for giving another boy a flower and hoping the blonde wouldn't be too offended.

Naruto stayed silent for a long time, taking the rose from Sasuke's hands and holding it up to his nose to smell it. It wasn't very strong, but the blonde could definitely smell a light sweet scent coming from the pretty flower. He smiled shyly and blushed, seeing that Sasuke still hadn't looked up at him. Naruto moved his now empty ramen bowl, setting it back on the tray before quietly kneeling down in front of Sasuke.

"It's beautiful Sasuke, thank you."

He whispered, a sweet smile adorning his face.

Sasuke looked up at him with a relieved look on his face. Naruto thought it was the cutest look he'd ever seen on Sasuke and immediately attacked him with a firm kiss, much like the one the raven had given him just two nights before in front of all those people at the charity ball.

When they pulled apart a few moments later, Naruto blushed again and brought the rose to his lips, hiding them out of embarrassment for doing something so bold.

"I love it."

X

Unlike his two friends, Zabuza wanted to do anything but stay at home that last day. Staying at home meant he'd see little of Haku, seeing as his mother seemed to be obsessed with spending as much time with him as she could. His poor mother had always wanted a daughter so badly, that seeing Haku was as close as she was going to get, she decided this would be her only chance to indulge herself.

When they'd gotten home from the theme park, his mother had proceeded to leave Zabuza in the doorway, taking Haku to play her version of dress-up and making cookies together for the rest of the night.

Zabuza had already been asleep by the time Haku had made it back to the taller boy's room where he'd decided to keep sleeping every night.

Zabuza had been patient with his mother, but today was his last chance to spend time with Haku, just the two of them. He was determined to do whatever he needed to make that happen, which meant keeping them away from the house for as long as he could.

This however, also meant leaving almost immediately after waking up. Haku had still been a little disoriented as they were walking out the front door, but Zabuza was relieved he'd gotten out with only a small wave to his father, not needing to explain himself to the man. His father new very well why he was leaving before his mother woke up.

"I'm sorry to pull you out of the house like this. I just had something I wanted to do with you today and...

"Your mother would've kept me all to herself."

Haku finished for him, giggling a little at the slightly guilty look Zabuza was wearing.

"It's okay you know. I've really missed being alone with you like this, so I don't mind."

The smaller boy wrapped his arms around one of Zabuza's and rested his face against the strong muscles there, further proving his point. This only served to make the older boy happier as he lead them to the car, then to the small section of town even further away from the city where he planned to spend the day with Haku.

The small part of town they stopped at was almost like an old Japanese resort with little clothing stores and food booths lining the little street. At the end of the street was a well known bath house that doubled as an inn for tourists from the city. A small park with little ponds and bridges scattered around was set up in front of the bath house, giving the place even more of a private, relaxing feel.

This wasn't the first place Zabuza wanted to go though. The first place was a small restaurant with fabric hangings that parted in the middle for a door and tables that sat low to the floor in secluded booths that were separated with paper walls.

"Are we having breakfast here?"

Haku asked surprised, noticing how nice everything seemed and how pretty the kimonos on the waitresses were.

"If that's alright with you."

Zabuza took the quick nod and excited smile on Haku's face to be a yes, letting the waitress seat them and take their orders.

It wasn't long before the two of them were leaving the restaurant with full stomachs, ready to do the other things Zabuza had planned.

"So what's next?"

Haku asked excitedly, looking up at the older man.

"This is the next place."

Zabuza said, opening the door to the shop across from the restaurant. The store was small and had different colored kimonos on racks around the outsides of the main room.

"How can I help you two?"

"I'd like to have my boyfriend fitted for his own kimono, if you wouldn't mind."

Zabuza said politely, watching Haku's cheeks go pink when he'd used the word boyfriend. The lady just smiled knowingly at the both of them before responding.

"Of course. Come right this way sweetheart."

She said happily, leading Haku into the large main room that was blocked off by a kimono, acting as a door, spread out on its rack to give the person being fitted their privacy. She turned back only briefly to inform Zabuza that he could wait on one of the chairs in the front entrance and that her daughter would bring him tea shortly.

X

Haku was surprised that Zabuza was doing this for him. He'd never thought he'd get a kimono for himself. They were so expensive that even the older boy's mother only had a few. He never thought he'd actually be given one, especially one he got to pick out himself.

"So dear, do you see anything you like? Any particular color you were hoping for."

"I didn't even know we were coming here so I hadn't thought of anything in particular. Would it be alright if I looked at a few?"

"Take all the time you'd like."

This lady was nice and soon she was even helping Haku by telling him which colors she thought looked best on him, and which ones had designs that represented things like seasons, plants, and other peaceful scenery on them.

It took a little time seeing as Haku liked so many of them. But he finally settled on one that he thought was beautiful that was also meant for people his height. It was a dark caramel brown like his eyes that the woman also seemed to like on him very much. It had a few faded color sections on the long sleeves and around the bottom hem, so there wasn't an actual design, but it wasn't one flat color either. The obi they picked to go with it was a chocolate brown that was almost the same color of his hair.

The lady told him he could wear it around the town if he wanted to. He said yes and his original clothes were placed in the box that his kimono would later be folded into. She'd even given him a pair of black and brown sandal type shoes and white socks with a slit between the first two toes to go with it. She told him they came with it free since few people had the money to afford such an expensive piece of clothing to begin with.

He was happy for that, even if Zabuza didn't care about the price. But soon all his thoughts were erased from his mind as he stepped out to meet Zabuza. The man looked at him with such awe he'd never felt more beautiful. Something he was truly happy for. He immediately knew what sort of formal wear Zabuza liked best on him. He'd worn such a pretty dress to the charity ball that the man had been stunned, but he'd never looked at him like this before.

Zabuza paid the woman happily, without a care in the world, and soon the two of them were out of the shop again. Zabuza was trying really hard not to look too proud to have Haku on his arm and the young boy couldn't have been happier to see the older, more stoic man failing so miserably.

It made him wonder briefly, if Zabuza ever asked him to marry him, what the man would think of him in a white wedding kimono. Since if the man ever did ask, Haku was going to say yes without a doubt. Not that he expect the man to feel that strongly about him, though he certainly hoped he did.

The two of them spent the rest of the day together, happily wandering between the shops and small food stands. The two of them ended up at the same restaurant again for dinner as they had for breakfast and one of the waitresses commented on the lovely hair ornament Zabuza had gotten him to go with his kimono as they'd been wandering in and out of the shops.

Haku couldn't have asked for a better day, he'd never felt so truly cared about or desired before and the thought that it would soon be over nearly brought tears to his eyes.

However he pushed it aside and just enjoyed the last few hours he had left, wandering the gardens in front of the bath house with Zabuza and watching the little kids in the small town square as they played with sparklers, running around and trying to right their names in the air with them.

X

The next morning was very different however. Haku had gotten teary-eyed leaving the Momochi house and watching Zabuza's mother and father wave bye to him as Zabuza put his things in the trunk for him. He'd had a really hard time holding his tears back while being hugged by Mrs. Momochi, who'd been crying unabashedly onto his shoulder at the thought of him leaving.

Naruto also wasn't happy to be leaving the Uchiha house, but he wasn't having near as difficult of a time as Haku was having. He smiled widely and hugged Sasuke's mother goodbye before getting in the car with his friends.

Gaara was the last one in the car, despite how long Mrs. Momochi had taken hugging Haku. Hanabi was taking even longer. Hinata was no where to be seen, much to Gaara's pleasure, and Hiashi had already given him his farewells over breakfast before leaving for work, but Hanabi was a completely different story.

He'd never thought she was actually this attached to him. She wasn't crying though, she just happened to have the deadliest scowl on her face that Gaara had ever seen. And she was directing it and Neji.

"You can't take him back yet. He's like my sister now! A real one that I can shop with and talk about boys with and... YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM BACK!"

Gaara was nearly frightened by this girl. He'd have said something about the 'sister' comment had he not been so nervous. He'd never seen Hanabi throw a fit like a normal little girl before, but apparently when she did, it was one of the worst fits known to man. And he was right in the middle of it. She literally had her arms squeezing so tightly around his waist that he couldn't breathe well.

"Calm down Hanabi. I'll bring him back soon and he can spend the whole summer with us if he wants. How does that sound?"

The redhead was also extremely impressed with Neji at the moment. The man certainly knew how to talk to a screaming, pissed off Hanabi. He was all light, happy tones, yet somehow seeming stern and giving Hanabi things to think about and questions to answer to get her distracted.

"You meant it?"

She asked warily, loosening her grip on Gaara a little. He could still hear her heavy breathing from her last scream, but she seemed to be calmer.

"Yes Hanabi, I'll arrange it with Gaara after our school festival."

"Why not now?"

"The school won't officially allow me to do it any sooner Hanabi. Don't you worry though, you'll see Gaara again soon."

Hanabi let go of Gaara immediately and folded her arms, turning her back on the both of them.

"Fine."

Gaara gratefully got into the car after that, lightly glaring at Naruto who looked like he wasn't sure if he should be laughing at the scene or not, yet still was.

X

The ride back had been a little quiet but as soon as they'd arrived back on the Aishiteru Academy campus and the older boys had walked them back to their dorm, the quietness disappeared.

The first one to break had been Haku, who'd started to cry into Zabuza's chest as the man hugged him goodbye, not at all pleased to hear that the older boy had to leave for work and wasn't allowed to stay with him any longer.

"It'll be alright Haku, I'll see you at school tomorrow. It's not like we won't be seeing each other."

Zabuza looked sad too, but Haku just nodded and calmed himself down. He hugged Zabuza as hard as he could and gave him a light kiss on the lips, even managing to smile a little before heading into their dorm.

Naruto was next, tears leaking out of his eyes too as he watched Haku disappear.

"You better be sad to be leaving me too Teme! And don't forget, you're taking me to the hospital on Monday!"

With that, Naruto was through their dorm room door, embarrassed at having cried in front of Sasuke, leaving the boy in question to snicker quietly to himself at the blonde's antics as he left the building.

Gaara was the last one to separate from Neji.

"So this summer huh?"

"If you'd like, I figured you might want to spend some time with your brother too though. You'll have plenty of free time to do so. But if you're interested in spending more time with me and my family, which I hope you are, you can look it up in the student handbook it talks about the school's tradition for summer vacation."

"I'll have to do some extensive research then and get back to you on that."

Gaara said with an amused smile, happy to know Neji wanted to spend time with him again.

"You better."

Neji smiled, laughing a little and pushing his hands into his pockets as he left. Gaara watched him go for a few minutes until he could no longer be seen leaving the building through the window in the wall across from their room.

"I'll definitely be looking into that."

* * *

Wow, I can't believe it took me nine months to write this update. I am so impressed with myself right now, but at least it's finally finished!

I'm sorry to have made you guys wait so long for the last chapter of this book, but I'm getting back into writing again so hopefully it won't be so bad the next time and I'll have the first chapter of book three up in a decent amount of time.

Thanks to all of you who've stuck around waiting! The next book will be coming out under Naruto and Sasuke in the character search, but you can always find it on my profile as well.

Thanks again for putting up with my laziness!

-Himitsu


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